


From Hell with Love

by UnderZeWeather



Series: AU Jam [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Biker Gang, Biker Keith, Demons, Keith sucks at being a succubus, Lance is super oblivious and too kind, M/M, Mentions of Slavery, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform, pastor Lance, succubus keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 44,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27202594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderZeWeather/pseuds/UnderZeWeather
Summary: Lance enjoys his quiet life as a pastor in a small town. It's a small town where everyone knows everyone. Occasionally people drive through the town and stop at the motel for a few days. Everything was fine until a certain biker drove into town and flipped Lance's life on its head.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: AU Jam [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893274
Comments: 14
Kudos: 103





	1. The Pastor and the Bikie

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in Strawberry and Blueberry Jam under HolyHell AU. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

There were a few things that Lance liked about living in the small rural town of Garrison. He loved the sense of community, the wide farmlands, and the cozy little corner shops were some of his favourite things. Lance also really liked his job. He was set to Garrison by the Vicar to become the local Pastor. 

He was very young, only 21, but the Vicar thought having someone young would bring younger people to the church. Lance didn’t think that was possible, but he did as he was told and went along with it. The older members of the church were very, very hard to win over. They were very stubborn and set in their ways, but over several months he was starting to gain their trust and acceptance. Attendance went up slightly for the younger demographic, but not that dramatically.

Lance didn’t mind too much. He had a steady congregation of a little over fifty, and small groups would rent out the church hall for small gatherings when they couldn’t rent out the town hall. Lance had happily opened the doors for the local A.A support group when there was a booking conflict with some other, larger event. Weddings kept Lance busy too.

Today, Lance was happily doing some gardening out the front of the church. Lance had always enjoyed gardening. It was soothing. But he had been doing so much gardening lately he was literally just sweeping dirt off the path heading up to the church. He wasn’t wearing his usual church clothes. Just some jeans and a t-shirt. Though he did keep his rosary close to his chest.

As he did so he wondered if there were any groceries he needed to pick up for himself. Maybe a bottle of milk and some bread? That would be good. He might pick up something for dinner, unless he was feeling lazy and just went to the pub. The food there was always nice.

“Hey Pastor McClain!” Called a voice.

Lance looked over the fence to see Pidge and Matt. Siblings that helped manage the motel and the liquor store next to it with their parents. They weren’t part of his congregation, but he still liked hanging out with them.

“Well if it isn’t the Holt siblings. When I’m not out the front with a bible in hand I’m just Lance.”

“Of course father.” Pidge said in an almost mocking tone. “What are you doing?”

“Sweeping and thinking about dinner. You?”

Matt shrugged. “Going for a walk. Parents want us to get some sunlight every now and then.”

“Yeah.” Muttered Pidge. “I crave my digital crap hole. Oh fuck, Probably souldn’t fucking swear in front of you like that huh, Pastor Lance?”

Lance rolled his eyes and pretended to clutch at his rosary beads. “Pidge. Please repent and say three hail Mary’s for me please.”

“Fuck no.”

“Fair enough. I shall say a prayer for your soul.”

“Do what you wish.” Said Pidge.

Matt rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you need any more wine for communion?”

Lance shook his head. “Let me let you in on a little secret, I’ve been using grape juice for the past three months. Some of the people going to A.A are Catholic and feel bad about not being able to take part of communion. The only ones that know I made the switch are the people in A.A. I’m pretty sure some of the older people would be angry if they found out…”

Pidge snorted. “Probably. Fuck those people.”

“Pidge…” Said Lance in a warning tone.

“Frick.”

“Better.” Lance went and put his broom away. The siblings were still waiting outside and Lance happily walked with them into town. 

It was mid afternoon and there were a few people out and about. People, mostly the older people, nodded at Lance and gave him a brief greeting of; “Pastor.” Lance would smile at them and nod back, giving them light greetings of “Hello.” and “Lovely day.”

He parted ways with the siblings and wandered into the pub. It was the afternoon. He could afford to have a beer if he wanted to before going to get his groceries. The bartender nodded when Lance walked in. “Afternoon Pastor. Looking for a pint?”

“Yes please.” When Lance got his drink he headed to an empty table and happily drank it. He wasn’t going to drink too much today. Just one pint and then back to shopping. He’d only had a small mouthful when he heard the deep growl of motorbikes rolling by. It wasn’t unusual. Sometimes small groups of bikers would roll through town. Just people passing through the town on the way to the next destination.

The rumbling stopped outside the pub. Moments later a group of people five people walked in. All clad out in their biker leathers with lots and lots of patches… Right on the back of their jackets and or leather vests was the word Mamora stitched across the back at the top, a gnarly looking purple knife and the word America was stitched on the bottom. The group made their way to the bar and ordered a round of drinks for themselves and sat at a table.

Lance hadn’t heard of any group called Mamora before, so probably just a bunch of friends on a weekend trip. He went back to drinking. Suddenly one of the bikers walked over to him and put his hand on Lance’s table.

“Hey.” He muttered in a gruff voice.

Lance looked up at the man and raised an eyebrow. They looked to be about the same age as him. He didn’t look too bad either. The man had a very handsome face, even with the surprisingly large scar on his right cheek. Though the man seemed to be sporting a mullet.

“Hey.” Said Lance. “Can I help you with something?”

“Is this seat taken?”

“No. Go ahead.” Lance assumed that the man would just take the chair and go back over to the table with the rest of the bikers, since the table that they were at didn’t seem to have enough chairs.

Much to his surprise the man pulled the chair out and sat with him. Lance raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as he looked at the patches on the mant’s vest. He kind of wondered what most of the symbols on his jacket meant. There were a lot of variations of what looked like iron crosses… He really hoped that this wasn’t some kind of White Supremacy thing. Compared to a lot of small towns the racism here wasn’t that bad. It was mostly just the old people making some backhanded compliments.

“Gay.” Said the man.

“Huh?”

The man pointed to a red variation of the iron cross of his vest. “You were looking at it. It means I’m gay, or at least fucked a dude.”

“... Ah. So, which one means you killed a minority?” Lance cringed a little when he said that. He did have a bit of a habit of saying stupid things when he was in stressful situations. Kind of like this. Also, if this guy was actually part of a biker gang, not just a group of people going on a ride, he might be fucked.

Thankfully the man seemed to find it amusing. He chuckled and shook his head. “No we aren’t those kinds of people. I mean, like, half the people I ride with are minorities or some kind… You interested in learning about patches?”

“Um, kind of?”

“Well, here’s one you should memorize right off the bat.” He pointed to a diamond patch with 1% embroidered into it. “Means you’re dealing with an outlaw biker gang.”

“... Ah.” 

“Yep.” The man then pointed to a few other iron cross variations on his vest. “This one means I stole something from a dead body. This one means bravery and courage. Ace of spades means I’ll kill for my club and or I’ve already done it. This FTW patch? Fuck the World. Means absolute rebellion.”

Lance frowned a little and finished his drink. “You know, I can’t tell if you’re trying to intimidate me or impress me.”

“Maybe I’m trying to impress you with how intimidating I am?”

“You’re not doing a very good job of it.”

“Well shit. How do I turn this around?”

“Perhaps you could give me your name?”

“Keith.” He said. “And you?”

“Lance.” Replied Lance. “So Keith, do you make it a habit to hit on strangers when you first come to town?”

“Only on the cute ones.”

Lance chuckled. “You think I’m cute? Well I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m already taken.” Yeah, Lance’s job as Pastor meant he couldn’t marry. Technically he could try and seek the right to marry but he really couldn’t see anyone in the church letting him get with a man. Closest he could get to being with a man was Jesus. Curse his bisexuality. He loved his religion but damn it was difficult sometimes when he had to deny part of himself to keep up appearances. Especially for the older folks.

Keith didn’t seem to like hearing that Lance was already taken. “Oh? Well I can treat you better.”

“Hmm, doubt it. But thanks for trying.” It sucked to turn a cutie like Keith down, but if he couldn’t take no for an answer then maybe he probably wouldn’t be good boyfriend material anyway. Plus there was the whole thing about Keith being in a biker gang to begin with. Not to mention the whole gay is wrong message a lot of people expressed, especially when it came from Catholics like himself.

Keith still didn’t seem happy with that answer. “Well I-”

“Pastor!” A man walked over to them, paying no mind to Keith as they spoke to Lance. “Is everything ready for Saturday?”

“Of course.” Said Lance. “Little Suzy’s baptism is all ready to go. You and your wife must be excited.”

“We are.” Said the man. “Her grandparents are very excited about it… Would you mind speaking a little louder than usual? The mother in law is starting to get a bit hard of hearing. She’s getting fitted for new hearing aids later in the month you see.”

“Of course.” Said Lance. “This is a very important event and I’ll do everything I can to make sure everyone can hear it very clearly.”

“Thanks Pastor. Much obliged.” They shuffled off and Lance finished his drink.

He looked back at Keith and couldn’t help but smile at the shocked look on his face. “What?”

“... Did he really just call you Pastor?” Asked Keith. “Like, you work at a church, kind of Pastor?”

“That’s right.” Said Lance. “I’m the Pastor. He stood up and smiled at him. “If you or your friends feel so inclined to confess to something my door’s always open. It was nice meeting you Keith. Please behave while you’re in town.” Lance quickly left the pub and went to get his groceries. He has no idea how long this gang was going to stay in town, but he hoped that they would leave soon.

***

Keith groaned in annoyance as he repeatedly headbutted the wall outside of the motel the Mamora gang had decided to stay in for the time being. Most of them had stayed outside to tune up their bikes or to drink. Though a fair few of them were outside purely to make fun of Keith.

One of the younger members of the group, Regris, happily stood next to Keith while smirking. “You hit on the Pastor.”

“I know…” Grumbled Keith.

“You hit on him so badly.” They cackled. “Wow… Holy shit man. That’s too fucking funny.”

“Go fuck a cactis.” He hissed.

Regris stuck out his tongue. “You’re such a baby.”

“I will end you.”

A man walked over to them. He was another member of the gang. He was by far one of the more friendly and approachable looking of the group. His name was Takashi Shirogane. Everyone called his Shiro. He was like a big brother to the younger members of Marmora. But just because he was kind didn’t mean he wasn’t brutal when it called for it. He didn’t have a skull and crossbones patch on his vest for nothing.

He just pulled Keith away from the wall, which earned some booing and hissing from the gang members that had gathered to watch Keith hurt himself. Shiro paid no mind to them and steered Keith into one of the motel rooms that they had occupied.

Once they were in there Shiro sat him down and patted his head in an almost condescending way. “Now, want to talk about what happened?”

Keith glared at him. “What do you mean? You were there? You saw him! He’s a Pastor! A fucking Pastor!”

Shiro rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Since when has that stopped you from going after what you wanted before?”

“... I appreciate your optimism, but I really doubt I’ll be able to go after a Pastor.” Said Keith calmly. “Fuck… Kolivan’s going to be so pissed off at me… I’m the one that suggested that we stop here because… He’s a Pastor? Holy shit.”

Shiro shrugged. “Well, it’s your own fault.”

“Fuck you.”

“It is… But what are you going to do now?” Asked Shiro. He sounded rather serious. Which, he was. Keith had been trying to convince Kolivan, the leader of their gang, to come to Garrison for the past three months. 

Kolivan didn’t see the point in going to such a small town. He wanted to keep going, but Keith has some ulterior motives for coming here. He needed to collect on a debt. It was going to be a challenge to do so when the man he was collecting from was so heavily religious.

“I don’t know.” Muttered Keith. “I’ll still try, but it’s going to be difficult to collect on this one. “I’ll have to think about it.”

“Okay…” Shiro dug his hands into his pockets and took a patch out, handing it over to him. “Here. Got this for you at the last town. Thought of you when I saw it. Plus I thought you could relax a little when you stitched it on.” The patch said; _Don’t follow me. I’m lost too._

Keith took it from him and chuckled. “Nice. Been looking for a new patch. I’ll stick it right between Men of Mayhem, and Bad Influence.”

“Nice.” Shiro ruffled Keith’s hair, paying no mind when his fingers bumped roughly over the small bony protrusions on Keith’s skull. He hissed and flashed his fangs at Shiro, but Shiro just flashed his fangs right back. “Don’t be such a baby. If you can’t handle your horns getting bumped every once in a while do you really think you can still ride with us? Just figure out how to get yourself that Pastor you so desperately begged Kolivan to come here for.”

Keith pouted and shrugged off his vest. “Yeah, yeah. I know… I’ll figure something out…”

“You better. If you don’t make some kind of progress in a few days Kolivan’s going to make us clear out and go to a more populated town… You might be the youngest demon among us, but you’re not earning any respect if you can’t collect.”

“I know…” He patted himself down and frowned. “I think my sewing kit fell out of my pocket… Can I borrow yours?”

Shiro handed his over and gave him a soft smile. “Look. It’s fine… I just don’t want you to do something stupid. You just… I really can’t believe that you’re trying to collect on a Pastor. You really know how to pick them.”

“Hey Shiro, shut the fuck up.” Growled Keith. Shiro just laughed and walked out of the room. He probably went to tell Kolivan what was up. Keith just ignored him and stitched on his new patch.


	2. Bratty demons

Lance was thankful that the biker gang hadn’t done anything too crazy to the town and seemed to be pretty law abiding for the most part. Everyone kept to themselves and that was fine. As long as no one did anything stupid then the bikers would eventually leave.

He cleared his throat a little as he closed his bible. That Sunday’s service was on the parables of Jesus. Specifically he was preaching the story about the Good Samaritan and to impart that his congregation should humble themselves and not judge a book by their cover. He highly doubted that anyone would. Well, apart from maybe the few families that had small children.

“That concludes today’s sermon.” He said with a smile. “I hope that we have all learned to follow the example of our Lord, and humble ourselves to care for our fellow man. May the Lord watch over you this week. God bless.”

His congregation slowly filtered out and Lance quickly went to mingle with everyone. The little old ladies loved him and happily told him how wonderful he was and they all wanted him over for tea or something equally stereotypical. They always stayed around the longest. Lance had to gently usher them towards the gate to get them to leave.

Once they were gone, Lance headed into his little back office and sat down at his desk and sighed. He needed to count the donations and deposit them. After that he should probably tidy everything up and make sure that the bibles were put away… Then maybe he could play some animal crossing when he was done. He also should probably sweep some of the dirt off the pathway again.

Lance sighed and walked out to the front of the church with a broom in hand. He started sweeping when he noticed a certain mulleted individual watching him from across the street. The street wasn’t very big and there wasn’t any traffic going by.

“You need something Keith?” He called out. “Service is over if you want to come over.”

The biker stayed still for a moment before he wandered over. “Hey there daddy. What’s up?”

Lance went bright red. “D-did you just call me daddy?”

A playful smirk graced Keith’s lips. “Well it’s the same as calling you Father, isn’t it?”

“... Just call me Lance, or Pastor Lance. I never really liked being called Father… And the only ones that can call me daddy would be my children.”

“Oh so you’re the kid diddling kind of holy man?”

Lance quickly became flustered and almost hit Keith with his broom. “Don’t say that! I’m not! That’s disgusting! I meant if I ever had children of my own someday.”

Keith laughed and leaned against the fence. “I’m just messing with you. You don’t seem like the kid diddling kind.” He looked up at the church and hummed. “Not a lot of sheep in your flock? Not a lot of faithful individuals around?”

Lance sighed a little and shrugged. “Yeah… I think a lot of the people that come here do it out of obligation these days, but I think some people still have faith…”

Keith snorted and happily jumped over the fence and smirked. “Nah, not enough faith here in this town. But it happens in these small towns.” He happily walked over to Lance. “The old people who have the most faith die out and the places guarded by faith start to waver and the demons can move in.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Demons like you?”

For a moment Keith seemed surprised. “What do you mean by that?”

“You know, because you’re part of an outlaw biker gang?”

“Ah, right.” Keith cleared his throat. “Anyway, you seem quite young. How did you get this crappy job?”

“I quite like my job.” Said Lance calmly. “I just knew from a young age that my life would involve the church… and well, it’s kind of a family thing, and due to circumstance it all kind of fell on me…”

“... What?”

Lance shrugged. “It’s a tradition in my family, who are very deeply Catholic, for a son to be part of the church. My big brother was going to do it, but my family fell on hard times so he started working with my papi. My other brother was going to do it, but he knocked up his girlfriend and married her… So it kind of fell on me to do it.”

“So you got railroaded into it?”

“Seriously? I wanted to be a part of the church.” Said Lance calmly. “Why is it when a kid wants to be a part of the church they are labeled as weird or something? What the heck? I just liked everything about it. It isn’t any weirder than a kid wanting to be a teacher or a scientist. I just wanted to follow a religious path…”

“... Did you grow up in the bible belt?”

Lance sighed and let his shoulder slump. “If you’re going to just make fun of my life choices when I’m not hurting anyone and actively trying to encourage people to be nicer to one another because it’s the decent thing to do, then you can just go.”

“Hey now, don’t act like that.” Said Keith calmly. “I didn’t mean nothing by it. Just trying to get where you’re coming from. I mean, you’re young, look cute, have your whole life ahead of you, and you tied yourself to something as heavy as religion? I don’t get it.”

Lance shrugged and continued to sweep. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? I’m here now. I’m doing what I want… Are you doing what you want?”

Keith seemed surprised and tilted his head slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I doubt you always wanted to be part of a biker gang.” Said Lance. “I understand that these things happen and the lord works in mysterious ways, but you know… I would like to know what made you walk down this darker path.”

“Satan mostly.” Confessed Keith. “That and I was born to be a bad boy.”

Lance chuckled and rolled his eyes. He shouldn’t have expected something serious from the man. Keith was an odd and dangerous man. He probably shouldn’t entertain him for very long. Well, if there was one sure way he knew how to get rid of someone he thought was a little sketchy, he knew one sure fire way to do so.

“Interesting. Want to come inside and talk about it more?” He asked. “Perhaps we can find something to talk about inside?”

Keith seemed a little unhappy about that, and almost seemed offended that Lance would even mention entering the church. He gritted his teeth and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Fine.” He spat. “Let’s go inside.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Look, if you don’t want to step into the church then I don’t mind… I know some people have had horrible experiences with churches and religion in general…”

“It isn’t that I…” Keith sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, he looked frustrated. “What are you doing?”

“Sweeping?”

“I mean, like, later.” Said Keith. “Do you want to meet up somewhere or?”

Lance gave Keith a confused look. “You do realise I don’t make a lot of money, and the congregation only donates enough to keep the lights and water running. It would be pointless to rob me.”

“I don’t want to rob you!”

“Then why would you want to go somewhere with me?” Asked Lance. “Keith. If you are hitting on me or something, I have to inform you that I am celibate. I do not want you to get any ideas about things…”

Keith smirked as he raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Ideas? Now pray tell Pastor, what sinful thing might you be thinking that I am thinking?”

Lance felt his face heat up and quickly looked away. Stupid Keith and his smoldering eyes. He was burning up under his gaze. “I may be celibate but I am not innocent. I have an idea of what someone like you might be after.”

“And what might that be?” Purred Keith as he moved closer to Lance. Keith tilted Lance’s chin up and smirked at him. “Come one little Pastor. Say it. Say what is on your mind cutie. Tell me every kind of depraved thought you have cooked up inside that head of yours.”

“... You take strange pleasure in tormenting me, don’t you?”

“Hmm, perhaps.” Keith smirked and licked his lips. “You’re too pretty to give yourself to the church.”

“And you’d rather I give myself to you?”

“It’s much more satisfying, and immediate.”

“I’m a firm believer that good things come to those who wait.”

“I think you’ve waited long enough for me.”

Lance rolled his eyes and lightly poked Keith in the chest. “Yeah, no offence but before I officially joined the church I was a very sociable individual. I’ve heard and spouted pickup lines worse, and better than that one. Try harder bikie.”

Keith raised an eyebrow and took a step back. He grinned at him and put his hands up. “Fair enough sweet thing. You aren’t completely naive. I’ll up my game… But you should come by and see me tonight. I’ll make it worth your while. I can show you a good time without you breaking your vow of celibacy.”

“Tempting, but it’s hard to tempt me.” Said Lance with a grin. 

“That isn’t a no.”

“Maybe. Depends on when I get my work done. You’re staying at the only motel in town, right?”

“Yep. See you soon hot stuff.” Keith gave him a wink and walked out the gate. He seemed to shudder a little when he left the church grounds.

Lance paid no mind to it and vowed to draw out his work for as long as possible. There was no way he was going to head anywhere there was a large group of outlaw bikers. Sure, he did just hold a service about not judging a book by their cover, but he still had some self preservation instincts.

***

Keith was kind of pissed that Lance didn’t show up that night. If Lance had shown up he would have tried to collect. But he gave up around 11pm. He was pissed off and full of aggression. He wanted to punch someone. Maybe actually kill someone? Yeah, he was that pissed.

He was outside and aggressively storming around the hotel while drinking. Some of the bikers had taken to throwing empty bottles and cans at him. If Keith caught them he would throw them back, or deliberately walk over to the offenders bike and smash whatever they had thrown at him against it.

“You really need to work some of that aggression out of your system.” Said Kolivan calmly as he walked over to him. In one hand he had an almost empty bottle of vodka and in the other a cigarette. The leader of the Mamora gang. His very presence demanded respect and loyalty. “I take it you’re still trying to woo the Pastor?”

“I didn’t know he’d become a Pastor!” Snapped Keith. “I thought he was a… I don’t know. Not some religious bastard!”

Kolivan sighed and took a long drag from his cigarette. “Look, there is a reason we don’t collect from them anymore… Okay, nuns were fair game back in the day, but to be fair they were mostly unwed mothers and their family's shame… Maybe it was just the region we were in at the time? Humans are fucking weird.”

“And your point is?”

Kolivan rolled his eyes and took a swing of his drink. “Point is, no one’s gonna care if you can’t collect on a Pastor. Only way you could do that is if you forced yourself on them. And where the hell is the fun in that? Plus they are generally nicer and less likely to try and kill you if they come willingly. You don’t have to break them first.”

Keith huffed and pouted. “I’m not giving up on him. I will collect from that Pastor. You’ll see! I can do it!”

“How much have you been drinking?”

“... I finished a six pack by myself…”

“Yeah… Go sober up a little. Maybe have sex with someone? Eat some bread. I don’t know. Just don’t cause trouble for us.”

“Yes oh fearless leader.” Grumbled Keith.

Kolivan rolled his eyes and ruffled Keith’s hair. “Brat.” There was no bite in his words. It was said with affection. The only one Keith didn’t mind calling him a brat was that man. Well, at least the only person outside of the bedroom. Anyone else and Keith would smash their face into the nearest hard object.

Keith just walked to the nearest available room, grabbed some random member of the gang, and dragged them into a room. He paid no mind to the two gang members happily making out on the bed. Possibly Thace and Ulaz. He didn’t really know who they were, nor did he care. It wasn’t unusual for other members of the gang to walk in on each other fucking. 

He just took his partner for the night over to the couch. He looked over at his partner and internally cringed. “Ah… Regris…”

Regris rolled his eyes. “Hey, you’re the one that grabbed me dumb ass. Let me guess, hate fuck?”

“Yeah…”

“Want to fuck the hate out or get the hate fucked out of you?”

“Don’t care. Kolivan just said I need to get laid and sober up.” Grumbled Keith. “Just fuck me up.”

Regris chuckled and let his fangs slip out from his gums and let his tail extend. “Alright Keith. I’ll fuck you up. Let your horns out. I want to be able to grab onto something when I smash you into the couch.”

Keith rolled his eyes and let his horns grow through. The were small and didn’t look overly impressive compared to others in the gang, but he could still gore the fuck out of someone if they pissed him off enough. He leaned over the side of the couch and spread his legs slightly.

“Hurry up and fuck me before I go and find someone else to do it for me.”

“Such a brat.”

“Don’t fucking call me a brat!” Snapped Keith. He turned to try and hit Regris, but the man grabbed him by the horns and shoved his face into the slightly tacky couch cushions. 

“Just shut up and take it. You want a hate fuck, you got a hate fuck.”

“Just get on with it before I flip you over and fuck you.”

“Brat.”

“Limp dick.”


	3. Trouble

During the week Lance was doing his best to move the pews out of the way to grab some folding chairs. The A.A meeting happened every Tuesday night and Lance was more than happy to oblige. The person running the meeting would come in around six and always tell Lance he should let him help move everything. Lance would just shrug him off and tell him he was just helping.

Helping was something Lance liked doing. He had always liked helping people. Helping people was just what he did. He heard the church doors open and saw someone wearing a biker’s jacket. He had a diamond patch on it with a 1% on it, so Lance assumed that they belonged to that biker gang. They were pretty muscular, had short black hair with a shock of white in the front, and he had a scar across his nose.

Lance was a little worried, but he still put on a smile. “Good afternoon. Do you need some help?”

The man shook his head and just looked around the building. “Nah, not really. Just always had an interest in religious buildings. Just seeing how this one looked on the inside.”

Lance nodded. “Ah, I see. If you are interested in the history I can look at some documents in the back for you?”

“Oh, that would be nice. Thank you… I’m Shiro by the way.”

“Lance.” He said. “Please follow me.” He took Shiro to the little office and started to look through the files. “So, would you mind if I ask you what your group is doing in our small town? We honestly don’t get many biker gangs coming through here. Sometimes a few weekend warriors, but that’s about it.”

Shiro chuckled. “If you’re worried we’re going to do some underhanded deals while we’re here don’t worry. We aren’t here to do any deals… Well... Ulaz might have a few bags of weed and cocaine left over from the last town… Doubt he’ll sell anything here though. So don’t worry about people suddenly becoming stoners or drug addicts.”

“... Right.” Lance continued to look through the files. He found some old newspaper articles that were placed in a scrapbook from when the church was first built. “So you’re just passing through?”

“Yeah, just passing through…” Said Shiro. “A few years ago Keith was passing through here. You’ve met him a couple of times.”

Lance nodded. “Yes. Keith is a very… Interesting individual. So he came through here before? Probably when the previous Pastor was in charge.”

“That he is.” Chuckled Shiro. “Yeah, Keith was… When he was here he happened to leave something here and he wants it back.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. He’s been vague about it, but it’s clearly something important to him. It’s something he has to collect.”

Lance nodded and showed Shiro the scrapbook. “Huh, interesting… How long ago was this? The town has changed a lot in the past three years. Lots of farmland has become houses. If Keith buried something on a farm it could be under a house now. I used to come here over the Summer. My abuela used to live here. She passed away a few years ago.”

“Ah, my condolences for your loss.” Said Shiro. “So you aren’t a stranger to this town?” He looked through the scrapbook and read some of the articles. He seemed content to just read it.

“Nope. Not a stranger at all.” Lance sat at his desk and watched Shiro for a bit. “... So should I expect anymore of the people from your gang to turn up at the church? I don’t mean to offend, but you guys are kind of scary looking…”

Shiro laughed at that. “Yeah, we are pretty scary looking. Doubt anyone will drop by, besides maybe Keith. We don’t generally hang around churches… Unless someone owes us money.”

“Noted. I’ll try not to owe you guys anything.”

“Smart man.” He handed the scrapbook back to Lance. Lance went to take the book back, and Shiro’s fingers brushed against Lance’s hand. “Oh, interesting scar.”

Lance looked down at his hand. Across the base of his ring fingers was a crooked scar. It had been there for so long Lance didn’t even notice it anymore unless someone pointed it out. He couldn’t remember how he got it, but he had been told that it was because of an accident when he was playing when he was a kid.

“Yeah, of all the places to get a scar I get one that looks like a wedding band.” Said Lance. “I like to think it means I was distended to get married to the church. The Lord knew my destiny and quickly locked it down. Had it pretty much my whole life.”

“Wow, controlling much?”

Lance shrugged. “It is what it is. I try not to question the lord.”

“That’s dumb.” Said Shiro. “No power is too great and perfect not to question.”

“The Lord doesn’t make mistakes.”

“I see you claim and raise you one flood.”

“... Um.”

The older man smiled kindly at him. “Look, I’m not trying to start anything with you. I honestly just find churches and stuff interesting… Do you think that maybe you could help Keith find what he’s looking for? Like, if he’s buried it somewhere it would be nice to point him in the right direction.”

“... Well, as long as he doesn’t keep flirting with me.”

That got another laugh out of Shiro. He seemed to be a rather jolly kind of guy. “I’ll try and get him to back off. Keith has a tendency to be a stubborn asshole. When he gets an idea in his head he sticks with it. We’ll probably be gone in less than a month anyway, so you don’t have to worry about him too much anyway.” He paused for a moment. “But if he does do something that really upsets you, tell either me or Kolivan. We’ll set him straight.”

“... Noted. Well if Keith has a vague idea of where he hid something I’ll try and help him find it.”

“Thank you Pastor. I won’t take up any more of your time.” Shiro happily showed himself out.

Lance sighed and put the scrapbook away. These bikers were weird. He really hoped that whatever Keith was looking for wasn’t something illegal, like guns or drugs… or a dead body… If it was a dead body Lance would scream. 

He shook his head and looked down at his hand and at his scar. A small cut that looked a lot like a ring. It hadn’t faded over the years, though he had thought about doing something about it. Hell, he had even considered getting a skin tone tattoo to cover it up at a few points in his life. But he really did like it. It kind of made him feel special, like he was chosen for something.

***

When Shiro got back to the motel someone tossed a beer at him. Shiro caught it with ease, parked his bike, and drank it. That got the gang member that tossed it at him to clap their hands. Shiro just nodded in their direction and headed to find Kolivan. He found their leader in one of their rooms, drinking and watching TV.

Shiro stood by the couch and cleared his throat. “Kolivan?”

He looked up at him and gestured towards the couch. “Sit.” Once Shiro was sitting, Kolivan continued. “So, what did you find out about the church and the Pastor?”

“The church was built around the same time as the town.” He said calmly. “The church grounds are wavering in holy energy. Not that many people have actual faith anymore. The church has the same amount of power as any secular school. It might cause some discomfort, but we can easily walk in there without bursting into flames… The Pastor is nice enough. A little naive, but seems nice enough.” He took another swig of his beer. 

Kolivan sighed and shook his head. “Well it’s nice to know we can bust down the door and burn the place down if we wanted.”

“Yeah… The Pastor has been marked though.”

“Hmm?”

“Keith’s collecting on more than just a little fun with the Pastor.” Said Shiro. “Dumbass somehow got himself a bride.”

Kolivan looked shocked. “Are you serious? Are you sure?”

Shiro nodded. “Yep. Lance has a scar right on his ring finger. Looks like a ring scar if ever I saw one. Explains why Keith’s obsessed with them too.”

Kolivan made an annoyed sound. “Perfect… How long has the Pastor had that scar for?”

“They said they had it their whole life.” Shiro sighed loudly and tilted his head back to look up at the strangely stained ceiling. “... So either Lance’s parents promised one of their children to Keith for whatever reason, or Keith met Lance when they were younger and they somehow made a deal… Keith’s trying to collect his bride.”

“That dense mother fucker…” Muttered Kolivan. “I am going to beat that brat with his own bike. I thought he wanted to collect the Pastor’s soul, not the whole man!” he stood up and gestured for Shiro to follow him. “Come on, we’re going to interrogate him.”

“Is he still here?”

“Ulaz said Regris fucked him pretty hard the other night.” Said Kolivan. “He’s probably still sulking on the couch because his ass hurts.”

“... Yeah, that sounds like him.”

The two of them walked a few rooms down and walked in to see Thace and Ulaz weighing some cocaine and carefully putting weed into small baggies. They gestured over to the couch where a rather grumpy looking Keith curled up on the couch.

He looked over at the two of them and waved slightly. “Hi?”

“Are you trying to collect a bride?” Asked Kolivan bluntly.

Keith looked slightly panicked. “No?”

“Bullshit you little brat.” He grabbed Keith by his arm and pulled him up. “What the actual fuck did you do?” Growled Kolivan. “Why did the Pastor become your bride? When did he become your bride?”

Keith hissed and looked over at Shiro for help, but Shiro knew better than to try and stop Kolivan from doing what he wanted to do. Keith sighed and eventually gave up trying to fight Kolivan. He knew he had to come clean.

“Okay, look, a few years ago I might have met Lance when he was a kid. We talked about stuff and at the time I was interested in finding a bride.” Confessed Keith. “Not my fault the stupid kid said he’d be my bride! At least I was nice and waited until he became an adult to try and collect on that promise…”

“... Keith, you are a moron!” Snapped Kolivan. “A Pastor? A fucking Pastor?”

“He wasn’t a Pastor when we met!” Hissed Keith.

“You’re an idiot!” Snapped Kolivan. “This is why you don’t take a bride in this day and age until they are adults! Even then, never human! You take human souls! Their souls! Not… Them. I swear to Satan I will beat your ass if you don’t collect your bride by the end of the month!”

“This is why I didn’t tell you I was collecting my bride!” Snapped Keith. “You always get so pissed off no matter what! He was my bride months before I joined you guys!”

Kolivan groaned in annoyance. “Fine. Just fix this. Okay?”

“I will…” Muttered Keith.

“Good.” Growled Kolivan. He let Keith go and stormed out of the room.

Shiro let out a low, slow whistle. “Wow… You know this could have been avoided if you told him that you were coming here to collect your bride.”

Keith rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm. “That’s why I didn’t say anything. I knew Kolivan would get mad at me when he knew about this… He isn’t very fond of us getting brides…”

“Only because when you get a bride it usually means kids, and it’s annoying to have them on the road with us… Unless they want to actually have a home somewhere…”

Keith pouted and crossed his arms. “Fuck this.This is bullshit… Shiro! You have a bride! How did you do it?”

Shiro shrugged. “Adam was living a shitty life and I promised him a new life where he would not have to fear or want for anything in his old life. He then kind of just fell into my arms. Also, Adam was an adult. Not a child. What you did was dubious at best.”

Keith puffed out his cheeks and looked away from Shiro. “I was young too. I didn’t know oher demons would look down on me if I got him to promise to be my bride! At least I waited until he was an adult to come after him… And the bastard doesn’t even recognise me! I thought he did the way he flirted with me back at the pub when he showed up, but he just… Things would be so much easier if he was a normal human with a normal job…”

“Hence why you don’t go getting young humans to be your bride you moron.” Said Shiro. “So here is what we’re going to do, I’m going to help you try and to help you get your bride… You’re still an idiot.”

“... Shut up.”

Shiro rolled his eyes and lightly slapped Keith in the back of the head. “Don’t be a little bitch. Put some pants on and follow me. We’re going to the thrift store. Gotta make you look presentable to try and collect your bride… And if all else fails just slip into his room at night and mesmerise him a little.”

“Fuck off.” He grumbled. “I’ll find my pants later. I don’t wanna go clothes shopping!”

“Regris stole his pants!” Called Thace from the bed. “Told him he was being a little bitch and walked out with them.”

“Sounds like Regris…” Grumbled Shiro. “Underwear on and outside in five minutes. If not, I’m dragging you out by your horns.”

“... Fine. Fuck you.” He growled and started to look for his underwear.

Shiro just rolled his eyes and let Keith grumble and act all pissed off. He was a stupid brat of a demon sometimes, but he had good intentions… Maybe… It was debatable…


	4. First real attempt

The morning was beautiful. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and everyone was happy as they gathered at the church for the wedding. Lance was only six years old at this wedding. It was his Aunt Camila’s wedding to her boyfriend. Some white guy called Steve. They were in his abuela and abuelo’s hometown so they could get married in the small church there. 

It was very beautiful, but for little six year old Lance, he was bored and his shoes hurt his feet. His mama had her hands full trying to keep his twin sister Rachel undercontrol. Even Lance knew that his sister was a ranging hellspawn at a young age that hated dresses.

While his family was distracted Lance wandered off to the back of the church where the little graveyard was. It was pretty old and Lance wasn’t sure if anyone was getting buried there anymore, so he felt relatively safe walking around and looking at the interesting headstones. Most of them were of angels and doves. It was pretty.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something move. It looked like a flash of red or black. Lance frowned and looked in its direction. It looked like there was someone hanging out among the tombstones. Maybe one of his uncles? Someone from the man’s family?

Lance walked over to him. “Hey Mr? Are you okay?” He asked.

The man wasn’t wearing clothes that looked very appropriate for a wedding. He was wearing black jeans, a black shirt and a red crop jacket. The man also had long hair, kind of like a girl? The man looked up at him and if Lance was honest, this man looked very pretty. He raised an eyebrow at Lance and gave him a questioning look.

“Need something kid?” They asked in a slightly amused tone.

“Are you here for the wedding?” Asked Lance. “Are you a friend of aunt Camila’s or her boyfriend?”

The man looked over at the wedding and then back at Lance. “So that’s what’s going on… Explains why there are so many people here on a Saturday.”

“Yeah.” Lance hummed a little and rocked back and forth on his feet. “I wanted to be the ring barer, but mama said that the other someone from the other family could do it…” He pouted. “I wanted to do it.”

The man just chuckled a little. “Yeah? Well maybe next time you can do it?”

“Maybe… Auntie Camila wouldn’t let me try on her dress either.”

The man seemed even more amused now. “Oh? Well wedding dresses are very, very important to a bride. It’s very special, and a dress you can only wear once in your life. Don’t get too mad at her for wanting to keep you away from the dress.”

“I guess…” Said Lance. “Mama and Papa said boys don’t wear dresses and said I was silly for wanting to wear one… But it’s so pretty and special… I want a special dress too. All I got was these shoes…”

The man looked down at Lance’s shoes and shrugged. “You should be careful. Those shoes are going to get scuffed if you keep kicking them.”

Lance pouted some more. “I know… So, are you here for the wedding?”

The man shook his head. “Oh no, just passing through. The place looked nice so I decided to jump over the fence and relax a little before I continue on my quest.”

“A quest?” Asked Lance. “What quest?”

“I’m looking for a bride.” 

“A bride?”

“Yeah, a bride.” The man yawned and happily stretched out. “Been told by my friend that I should think about settling down and finding a bride. So I’m just going from town to town trying to find someone I like to be my bride.”

“Are you going to find a pretty girl?” Asked Lance. “... One with long curly hair like Camila?”

The man thought for a moment. “Well, if he wants to have long hair I don’t mind. Just has to look cute in a dress to be my bride.”

“... I think I’d look cute in a dress.”

The man seemed shocked by Lance’s comment before he started to laugh. “I’m sure you do kid. But I want my bride to be a little older than you.”

“... Like, ten?”

“More like say… twenty one?”

“That’s really, really old…”

“Ancient.”

“Really, really ancient.”

“Yep.” The man laughed. “Can’t help it. I like older people. It would be pretty gross if a man my age was interested or wanted to marry someone your age. Are you even in school yet?”

Lance pouted and crossed his arms. “I am old enough to be in school.”

“That’s nice kid.” 

“... Would your bride wear a special dress?”

“They can wear whatever they want on our wedding day.” Said the man. “He can wear a dress with the tallest heels he wants. As long as it makes him feel good we’ll do it. It’ll be a nice day… Once I find them that is.”

Lance nodded and looked down at his stupid shoes. Heels were pretty. He could wear some heels and look nice if he wanted them. “... Mr? When I get older, really, really old… Can I be your bride?”

The man looked shocked. “You want to be my bride?”

Lance nodded. “Yes. I wanna be your bride.”

The man shrugged. “Alright. Show me your hand.” Lance held out his hand and the man poked his finger. Lance jumped a little because it felt like he flicked his finger. “There. Now when you become an adult I’ll come back and collect you… Now you better go on back to the church before people start wondering where you are. Your parents are probably looking for you.”

“Hmm, probably. Bye Mr.” Said Lance as he quickly toddled back to the church. Much to his surprise no one had noticed he was gone.

***

Lance yawned and rubbed his eyes as he woke up. He’d been dreaming more of his aunt’s wedding over the past few days and different aspects of it. He was pretty sure he didn’t actually meet someone among the tombstones. Actually, he probably needed to check the headstones. Lots of them were really old and he’d need to let relatives know and the local historical society.

He quickly got up and got ready for the day. They got dressed in their gardening gear, grabbed some food, and headed to the cemetery. The cemetery was still attached to the church even though no one had been buried there for years. He kind of felt that the historical society should look after it, but there were still relatives of the people buried there and they were very much against anyone but the church taking care of their graves.

So Lance was out with the whipper snipper as he carefully trimmed the edges of the fence and around the tombstones. He hired a gardener to just mow around everything once a month. It was fine. Lance didn’t trust himself to go around the tombstones with the lawnmower by himself.

When he was done he started taking photos of every tombstone to send to the historical society. He happily hummed to himself as he worked. When he was done here, maybe he could just head down to the pub and get something warm to eat. The schnitzels there were so good, and there were so many of them. He’s almost eaten his way through the whole menu.

He suddenly felt something brush up against the back of his neck. “Hi.”

Lance screeched and quickly spun around. The man standing behind him was Keith. He looked a little more put together than he did before. Clean black jeans, dark red shirt, black jacket, and his hair was tied back into a low ponytail. However he was still wearing his biker boots and his fingerless gloves.

“Keith!” Snapped Lance. “Don’t do that!”

Keith chuckled. “What? I was just saying hi. Not my fault you’re like this.”

Lance pouted and crossed his arms. “Whatever… So, not wearing your vest today?”

“Yeah, sometimes I need to take it off. Just doesn’t look good with what I’m wearing.” Said Keith. He smiled softly at him. “So what are you doing?”

“Just doing some grave tending.” Said Lance. “With the way things are now, the cemetery is still the responsibility of the church… But a lot of the restoration done by the historical society… Yeah.”

“Huh, you almost done?” Asked Keith.

“Yeah, why?” Asked Lance. “Do you need help finding the thing you left here before?”

“... How did you-? Shiro.”

“Shiro.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Well Shiro should just learn how to mind his own business… Anyway, I was actually wondering if you wanted to get lunch with me?”

Lance was a little surprised. “Oh? Um, okay? I just need to chuck some stuff in my car…”

“Want me to meet you there?” He asked.

“Sure.”

“And you’ll actually turn up this time and not ditch me?”

Lance blushed slightly and averted his eyes. “Well… I was busy working really late… Sorry…”

Keith shrugged. “Just be there soon. Okay? I’ll stick around until two.” Keith walked out of the cemetery, got on his bike, and drove into town.

***

About half an hour when Keith got to the pub Lance showed up. He was wearing a new shirt and looked like he had cleaned himself up a little. Lance sat opposite him at the table and smiled. “Sorry, that took a little longer than I expected. But I’m here now. Have you ordered anything to eat yet?”

Keith shook his head as he very obviously checked Lance out. Sure he clothes were a little dirty, but Lance did look cute. He was such a cute human. Always had been, always would be. Well, when he was a kid he had that innocent kind of puppy cuteness, which made him want to cuddle and protect. Now that Lance was an adult he was still cute, but he now had sexual appeal too.

Lance pulled a menu and held it out to Keith. “Well, I don’t know what you like, but they do ten different schnitzels here… But if you count if it’s chicken or pork, then it’s twenty.”

“I see…” Keith looked down at the menu and looked through everything. Human food was so interesting to him. He honestly didn’t need to eat it to survive. Eating was just an over indulgent luxury. Eating also released endorphins and endorphins were good. It just wasn’t feasible to fuck or wank off to get that hit of positivity chemicals. Yeah, demons were pleasure chasers. Who wouldn’t be when their bodies didn’t make enough on their own to make themselves feel good.

Lance hummed happily and pointed to some of the food on the menu. “The beef burgers are very nice. Perfectly cooked and the fries here are super thick cut. It’s so nice… Pretty sure the triple bacon, breakfast burner will kill someone but…”

Keith had a quick look at the menu and raised an eyebrow. It was a beef patty, two slices of cheese, two hashbrowns, three slices of bacon, and a fried egg. Keith could feel his arteries harden in his chest just reading it. 

“I’m pretty sure I would die if I ate that.” Muttered Keith.

Lance nodded in agreement. “Yep… It’s a pretty good hangover cure though.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. I do drink a lot.”

“Yeah… You might want to consider cutting back a bit if you have more than one or two standard drinks every other night.” Said Lance. “Not that I’m telling you how to live your life. I’m just… I usually help out at the A.A meetings. Like, get snacks and drinks… If someone is religious they like to talk to me after the meeting… I um… I’ve picked up a few things. That’s all.”

“It’s fine. I appreciate your concern. My liver is one of my strongest organs though.”

“Yeah…”

After a few minutes the owner’s lovely wife came by to take their order. Keith got a schnitzel with cheese, while Lance got some crazy one with avocado, bacon, cheese, and bearnaise sauce. So Lance was the kind of guy that liked fancy, more elaborate food? That was interesting. He could get Lance more fancy food.

They talked for a little more and Keith couldn’t help but smile at Lance. The Pastor was a kind man and kept the conversation light. He didn’t ask Keith too many questions about himself, though he probably didn’t want to know. Not that Keith could blame him. He did have a pretty shady past and life in general.

And he wanted to pull Lance into that world. His world. A world of demons. A world of endless pleasure seeking and exploration. He always wondered why humans hated them so much. Humans were all about trying to find the best and most pleasurable ways to exist. It wasn’t his fault that demons were just the ultimate pleasure seekers. Alcohol dulled the urge to seek it out which was why he and his group were heavy drinkers. Hell, alcohol had been used to placate demons for years.

Their food came and the two of them ate in peace. Once they were done they two of them left the pub. Keith didn’t want Lance to leave just yet. He wanted to stay with Lance a bit longer. He wanted his Bride to be with him.

“So what are you doing now?” Asked Keith. “Back to the church? Want to do something together?”

Lance frowned a little and crossed his arms. “Keith… I have a feeling that this was a little more than two guys just getting lunch together.”

“... Would it be so bad if I considered it a date?”

Lance sighed. “Keith… First of all, it’s totally inappropriate to trick someone into going on a date with you. Secondly, I am a Pastor and celibate. I’m never going to be with someone in a sexually intimate way. I’ll never be with anyone in that way. Thirdly, I um… I’m straight…”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no. You’re not straight.” One of the few perks about being a demon was the innate ability to identify a human’s sexual preference. It was a very handy thing to have. Especially when trying to find a partner for the evening.

Lance’s face went a beautiful shade of red. “R-regardless of my sexuality, I am celibate. I gave myself to the church. My body and soul belong to them.”

“Let the church keep them.” Said Keith. “I just want your heart.”

“... Dude you’re coming in way too strong.” Muttered Lance. “I um… I have work to do. Bye.” Lance quickly left and Keith was annoyed. Again.

It didn’t work, but he wanted to. So very, very fucking badly. He sighed in annoyance and headed back to the motel. Along the way he ran into Shiro. Though it was more than likely that the demon had been hanging around to see how things were going. With the lack of a cute Pastor trying to suck his dick, it was pretty obvious this failed spectacularly.

“... So, going to try the dream thing?” Asked Shiro.

“Dream thing.” Muttered Keith. “But first, whisky.”


	5. Dreamwork

The evening was kind of warm, but Lance didn’t mind. He liked it. He sat outside on his porch and drank a beer. He thought a little bit about what Keith was doing. Sure he was a good looking guy, and if Lance wasn’t so committed to his life choices, he might consider fooling around with a dangerous biker type… But here he was, he was a Pastor.

He closed his eyes as he leaned back in his rickety old chair and sighed in frustration. Keith cleaned up really well. He looked so damn hot with the way he dressed and he looked cute with his hair pulled back like that. Lance shook his head and finished his beer before he went inside.

He knew what was happening. He was starting to think impure thoughts. He knew it was a dumb thing to think about, even if it was natural. Keith was attractive and so very tempting. He almost laughed at how cliche it all seemed as he walked into the bathroom. Keith, a bad boy biker, and Lance, the religious good boy. With the way that this song and dance went, either he’d bring Keith to the light of the Lord or Keith would pull him down into his depraved world.

Neither of which Lance really cared for… Even if it was kind of exciting to think about how exciting it would be to get corrupted by Keith in every way. Keith’s rough hands holding him down as he talked dirty to him, and fucked him hard into the mattress or whatever surface he was pressed against. Lance wasn’t fussed.

He shuddered a little at the thought and took care of himself in the shower. Yeah, maturbating was frowned upon, but he considered it the lesser of two evils when his choices were this and sex.

When he was done gratifying and cleaning himself, he got out, dressed in an old oversized shirt and his boxers. It was time for bed. He said a quick prayer and got into bed. He wondered if he would see Keith tomorrow? More than likely. He seemed to like to annoy him and tease him and tempt him… Keith was way too tempting for his own good.

“... Damn it.” Lance rolled onto his side and glared at the wall. This was annoying. He was lusting after Keith. He’d deal with it tomorrow. He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. It was a frustrating feeling and Lance didn’t like it. Curse Keith and how tempting he was.

Lance was gonna have to do a lot of praying tomorrow and reading his bible. His eyes were going to fall out of his head by the end of this. Also it would definitely kill his libido. Nothing killed a libido faster than religious texts. He was going to read Judges. Arguably one of the most boring chapters in the whole bible.

***

It was close to midnight when Keith was skulking outside of Lance’s house. He was kind of nervous. He hadn’t done anything like this before. Dream manipulation wasn’t his thing. He’d usually just rely on his looks and bad boy charm to get laid. It had worked well for years. It was easy enough to slide up next to some sexy buff guy and pout a little or he’d walk confidently past some twink and buy him a drink. Sadly, neither of these things worked with Lance. He hated this.

Keith eventually found an unlocked window and crawled inside. Immediately the air around him felt heavy and humid. It was the grotesque and familiar feeling of religious undertones. He looked around the room he was in. It looked like a lounge room. There was a statue of the virgin Mary on a bookshelf. It made Keith cringe, but mostly because of how shitty the paint job on it was. Seriously she looked more like some kind of insect person that was staring at both walls.

He rolled his eyes and carefully walked through the house. It was quiet. All he could hear was the tick of a clock and the slight dripping of a tap in the kitchen. Keith went into the kitchen and quickly shut that off. If there was one thing that Keith hated it was stupid noises like that. Also, there was religious paraphernalia in every damn room! If it wasn’t some statue of a saint it was a statue of baby Jesus or a crucifix.

There was a damn crucifix with Jesus hanging off it in the kitchen for crying out loud! Keith never understood these ones. Like, a normal crucifix was like, whatever. Appropriate one of the worst forms of torture in the world for your religion, but why have a body on it? Why was it seen as a good thing? He would never understand it.

He very carefully made his way to the bedroom and paused in the doorway. Lance was sleeping peacefully in his bed. He looked so nice and peaceful. He kind of wished he wasn’t wearing some sleep mask thing though. He’d much rather see what Lance’s face looked like when he was sleeping without the mask.

If Keith was a weaker demon he would just climb up on top of Lance and take him then and there, but that really wasn’t his style. He hadn’t really tried manipulating the dreams of humans before. It was a difficult thing to do.

He had to concentrate and have a good imagination to keep an illusionary dream going. And, if Keith was honest, he wasn’t very good at either of those. Shiro was a lot better at this kind of thing and did give him a quick crash course in what to do, but Keith was still very, very iffy about it. He needed to dedicate all his energy to this, so using his energy to hide his demonic form was pointless.

He let his soft human features fall away completely. He stretched his wings and let his tail unfurl. It had been a while since he had been a while since he had done something like this. He took the time to quickly look at himself in the mirror. He looked a lot like a gargoyle. At least that’s what everyone else in the gang said. Mostly meant if they were doing something specific Keith was the involuntary lookout. Especially on really old buildings.

The scales on his body were dark purple and maroon in colour. The tip of his tail was shaped like a spade. His horns were small, but he was still a young adult. There was still more room for them to grow. He hoped they would get bigger. His eyes were the brightest yellow and his pupils were slitted like cats eyes.

He walked over to Lance’s bed and crouched down next to him. He still looked really pretty. However he didn’t know what he was meant to do from here. He needed to remember what Shiro said to him about how to do this.

 _“Remember, it’s important to be yourself, and I mean it literally.”_ He said. _“Make sure they are really asleep and initiate contact. Start off with something like a light hand touch. You can’t be too quick. If you’re too eager you’ll wake them up. Go slowly.”_

Keith very carefully reached out and gently touched Lance’s wrist. Now that he made contact he needed to concentrate. He took a few deep breaths as he felt a light tickling of another’s consciousness in his mind. He had a foothold in Lance’s mind

_“Once you have a foothold in his mind you can ease yourself in. Slowly. Patience yields focus. Don’t rush into it or he will wake up, and you’ll have even more problems to deal with.”_

Keith closed his eyes and let his mind dwell on that foothold. It wasn’t that strong, but the more he probed it with his own mind the stronger it became. 

_“You’ll eventually have a clearer picture of what they are imagining in your mind. After that you can climb on top of him and pin him down. He’ll be completely stuck in his dream state by now. Try not to sit on his chest. He won’t be able to breath really well. Okay?”_

Keith very carefully climbed on top of Lance and very carefully, but firmly sat on his stomach. With Lance straddled between his legs, Keith held Lance’s other wrist and steadied his breathing. He needed to try and clear his own mind and focus more on what was going on in Lance’s mind.

He took a deep breath and tried to focus in on Lance’s mind. He could see… Flowers? Trees? Some kind of meadow? Seemed like it. He applied a little more pressure on Lance and tried to get some more skin contact with him.

_“Skin contact is very important. The more skin contact you have with a human the easier it is to manipulate their dreams. This is why we do it more in Summer and Spring. Less clothes, or at least looser clothes.”_

Keith changed his position a little as he used his tail to push Lance’s shirt up so he could press their stomachs together. It seemed to work for Keith as he got a much clearer picture of Lance’s mind. Definitely meadows.

_“Once you have a clear picture of their dreams and have a good amount of skin contact, you can just insert yourself into their minds. From there you can pretty much do anything within reason. Have fun there and don’t scare Lance too much.”_

***

The meadow was beautiful. The grass seemed to flow like water over the hills and passed the few trees that were there. It was beautiful. Calming. Soothing. He hummed softly and continued to walk through the sea of grass.

“Lance.” Called a voice. 

He turned around and saw Keith standing a few feet behind him. He was still just as tempting and handsome as ever. He smiled softly at him and reached out for him. Lance smiled back at him and walked to Keith. He had enough understanding to know that this was just a dream. There weren’t any fields like this around where he lived.

Keith held Lance in his arms, resting high on his back and his other on the small of his back. Though, the hand resting on the small of his back was quickly sinking dangerously low to just cup and grope his ass. He shuddered and hummed.

“Keith…” He breathed in a husky voice.

Hearing that seemed to make the man smirk. He leaned in close to Lance and whispered into his ear. “Lance… You’re so fucking sexy. You want me to fuck you hard don’t you? Maybe I’ll take you out fuck you in the church? Maybe you’ll like getting fucked in the confessional? You could confess how much you love my dick.”

He shuddered when Keith said these things to him. Lance couldn’t help it. He liked dirty talk and holy shit it had been too long since he had been around anyone that wanted to touch him or that he was willing to let touch him in such a way.

“Hmm, Keith, we shouldn’t…” Lance purred softly. “That would be so… We’d get into so much trouble if we did.”

“I don’t care.” Said Keith as he squeezed Lance’s ass firmly. “You don’t either, do you? You want to get defiled in the church. You want some bad boy to hold you down and cum inside your tight ass… Wouldn’t it feel so good to be my cute little cockwarmer while you try and get a sermon ready for the next week?” He happily kissed along Lance’s neck. “You smell so fucking good. I want to fuck you so bad.”

Lance could feel the heat in his cheeks starting to burn. He hated how much this was turning him on. He rested his hands on Keith’s shoulders and hummed softly. “W-we really shouldn’t…”

“We shouldn’t, but you want it.” Purred Keith. “You need it… You’re craving physical intimacy. You know I’d treat you right. Treat you the way you’re craving to be treated.”

“Keith, I…”

Keith tilted Lance’s chin up, and gently kissed him on the lips. It was soft and sweet. It might not have been passionate, but it had been so long since he’d kissed someone he became weak in the knees.

“Be mine.” Purred Keith. “Be my bride.”

***

Lance’s alarm went off and he rolled over to slap the snooze button. He didn’t wanna be awake. His dream was just getting good damn it. Did he feel kind of guilty for objectifying Keith in his dreams? Kind of. But the human mind was a jumbled mess at the best of times. He’d ask for forgiveness and say some prayers when he got to the church.

He sat up and wasn’t surprised to see that he’d gotten a bit of morning wood from that dream. He was pretty sure he was going to end up popping a boner if he saw a slightly, mildly sexually suggestive tree at this rate. Lance had a quick shower and took care of himself before he got ready for the day.

Tonight was the A.A meeting so Lance had a few things to do to help get things ready. On his list of things he had to do; move the pues and take the chairs out of the storeroom, take the folding table out of the storeroom, get some drinks, and get the garbage bin set up.

Lance got there and quickly went to work. It wasn’t easy to move the pues by himself, but he could do it. Just took a few hours. Lance was a lot of things, but strong wasn’t one of them.

“Knock, knock Lance.” Called Matt from the front door. “Can I come in?”

Lance smiled and gestured for him to come in. “You know you’re always welcome. What’s up?”

Matt waltz in and sat on one of the pues that Lance still had met to move. “So Pidge and I looked over the blueprints for the church and we have a few ideas on how to get a better speaker system going in here, and maybe a proper aircon for Summer.”

“That’s awesome.” Said Lance. “If you have some plans I can check with the council to see if I can get approval, or if this church is too old…”

“Well it was one of the first buildings built in the town.” Mused Matt. “So probably not going to let you do any major changes… I mean, I remember when I was really small and Pidge was a screaming potato, the old Pastor practically had to pull teeth to get those ceiling fans put in.”

Lance looked up and sighed. The ceiling fans were okay, but they weren’t very good. He still needed to open up all the windows in Summer so now one would die of heat exhaustion. “Yeah… I’ll have to think about it some more…”

“Fair enough… Also, want to come to the movies with us tomorrow night?”

“What movie?” Asked Lance. 

“Drivein movie theater. They are playing a monster movie marathon.” Said Matt. “You in?”

Lance’s eyes lit up. “Are they the really bad monster movies? The ones with people in really bad costumes and horrible CGI?”

“Of course.”

“Sign me up. Who else is going?”

“Us, Pidge, Hunk… and anyone else we can rope into it. We’re taking my car and depending on how many more people are coming along we might need to take someone else’s car…”

“We can use my car too.” Said Lance.

“Thanks man, you’re the best.”

“Aw, thanks Matt.” Said Lance. “But considering you are the one trying to get me some air conditioning going, I think you’re the real MVP here… Now do you have anything to confess you young heathen?”

Matt laughed and shook his head. “Can’t be a sinner if I don’t believe in sin.”

“Interesting logic you have there. Text me the details later?”

“Will do.” Matt got up and shot Lance some finger guns. “Get ready for the monsters.”

Lance laughed and held his rosary beads. “I think I’m well protected against the monsters. Especially if they are of a spiritual nature.”

***

Keith had spent the two hours with his head in a bucket of ice. He had a splitting headache. Apparently manipulating dreams in a house full of religious paraphernalia was a really, really bad idea. The second he lost his concentration it felt like someone went and stabbed him right between the frontal lobes.

“Um… So how did it go?” Asked Shiro.

“Fuck you…” He growled. “I feel like shit… I only got as far as kissing him and touching before I got forced out. Fuck those stupid Christian symbols. I fucking hate this shit.”

Shiro sighed and patted his back. “Well, you know how these things can be when you try them for the first time… At least you planted the idea of yourself in your mind. So that is something?”

“I feel like I’m going to vomit up my organs…” Growled Keith. “All this bile is… I fucking hate religious shit… Lance’s house is far more religious than the church. How fucked up is that?”

Shiro laughed and patted his back. “Alright. Well how far did you go?”

“Kissing and grabbing his ass.” Grumbled Keith. “Fuck, if I didn’t waver I would have gone way further… My head hurts…”

“That’s not bad for your first time trying to manipulate dreams.” Said Shiro. “Might want to give it a few days before you try again.”

“I fucking hate that stupid dreaming shit.” Muttered Keith. “I need a drink…”

“Whisky or bourbon?”

“Both.”

“... I’ll see what I can find.” Shiro walked off and Keith sighed heavily.

Lance, stupid sexy Lance… It was frustrating trying to be all sneaky to try and get Lance to fall for him. Sure Keith was powerful and if he really wanted to he could take the mortal by force, but the majority of demons saw this as a weakness. Many demons were known for being cunning and clever. Just brute forcing something was seen as barbaric and something to look down on.

Hopefully he had made enough of an impact in Lance’s subconscious so he would actually think about him. If he had done it right then it would be in the more sexually explicit ways. He wanted Lance to think about how good it would feel to be riding his dick like he was made to do it...

He sighed and pressed an ice cube over one of the bumps on his head where one of his horns would be. It was soothing, but he still had to figure out how he was going to get with Lance. The best thing he could do for himself was to confront him and see how he would react when they saw each other. Hopefully Lance would be all flustered and embarrassed. That would be good. It would show that he had made a lasting impression on the Pastor.

However, there was one more pressing issue that Keith needed to figure out first… Where the hell was Shiro with his alcohol?


	6. Second attempt

The drive in was relatively full, but Lance managed to get a good spot. He had picked up Hunk and was going to watch the movie with him, while the Holt siblings would share their own car. It was fine. Lance and Hunk were pretty good friends. In fact, Hunk was considered the co leader of the A.A meetings. Now, Hunk wasn’t an alcoholic by any stretch of the word, but his uncle was, and Hunk had helped him through it. Hunk was the one responsible for helping switching the A.A meetings to the church over the community center.

He was a really sweet guy. Loved baking, he owned a little pastry shop in town, and was just all around a great guy. Though he did kind of have a weak stomach when it came to a lot of things. Guy was motionsick too.

“So these old movies aren’t too gory, right?” Asked Hunk as the group got out of their cars to grab food and drink before the movies start.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Doubt it. Lots of fake blood though.”

“I hope they show some old school dracula.” Said Matt. “They had armadillos running around in those movies because they looked so weird and demonic back in the day.”

Lance chuckled. “Well, lots of people find things they don’t understand demonic. It’s still very funny.”

Pidge chuckled as they scratched their arm. “Yeah, don’t worry about it Hunk. Lancy-Lance will protect you from the scary demons.”

“Only if they are affected by religious things.” Said Lance. “Vampires? Yes. Godzilla? No.”

“Could you ward off zombies?” Asked Matt curiously.

“Only if the bodies were reanimated due to demonic means.” Said Lance. “Science based zombies will eat my ass no matter what.” He looked at the menu. “... Hunk, if I get a giant popcorn do you want to share?”

‘Yeah sure.” Said Hunk. “Want me to get your drink?”

“Aw, thanks man.” Said Lance. “Large cola and I’ll shout you a refill.”

“Deal.”

Once the group had gotten their supplies they went back to their cars and settled down to marathon the movies. First up was Frankenstine. A good classic movie. Lance liked moments like this.

While Lance was a Pastor, he was still a young adult. He liked going out to movies and hanging out with his friends. It’s nice to pretend he’s not a Pastor for a few hours and just be a normal man. Sure he still didn’t really do too many things… Like going out for drinks at a club or whatever. Then again there were no clubs to go to in this town anyway. He at least couldn’t pick up any cute girls, let alone boys.

He sighed a little as he ate his popcorn. It would be nice to be able to pick up someone. Even if it was just for a one night stand… If he knew he wouldn’t feel any guilt the next day he probably would do it. Doubted anyone would want to sleep with a Pastor, unless they had a very specific kink… That or they were Keith. 

Keith was kind of a messed up guy. What kind of guy wanted to fuck a Pastor? … Someone with a really, really specific kink, probably. Did Keith have some kink where he wanted to get “punished” by someone in the church, or did the biker want to fuck him? Damn sexy biker. So socially awkward, but he just seemed so desperate to get into his pants. The guy probably wasn’t used to people saying no to him. 

He was such a jerk… Some sexy bad boy jerk that appeared in his dreams… That grabbed his ass… That told him to be his bride… Yeah, Lance was really sexually repressed. Celibacy was difficult when Keith was just so… So Keith…”

About halfway through the second movie, Hunk ducked out to go to the bathroom, and to make a quick call. Lance didn’t mind, though it did mean he was kind of stuck half watching a movie, half thinking about Keith. He wondered how far his dream would have gone if he had kept dreaming? Just the question made his dick twitch in mild interest.

Lance groaned in annoyance and hit his head against the car seat. This was dumb. He was dumb. Keith was hot, and under any other circumstances then he would happily jump on that dick of his or like, fuck him. He was good for either.

“This movie is dumb.” Muttered Keith from the backseat. “They didn’t even use real blood in this or fake blood. It’s chocolate sauce.”

“Yeah, well that… KEITH?!” Lance spun around and stared at the biker who was happy enough to just sit there and down his bottle of tequila.

The biker raised an eyebrow and put a finger to his lips. “Not so loud. There’s a movie playing.”

***

Once Keith’s headache was gone he went about trying to figure out where Lance would be so they could talk again. Surprisingly it was pretty easy to figure out. People in small towns really stuck to their routines like they had severe OCD. A little strange, but Keith was happy enough to use this to his advantage. Just by listening to any talk about the Pastor, Keith was able to overhear some old woman talking about Lance and how they wished that the drive ins showed more wholesome movies.

So Keith just wandered over there, jumped the fence, because fuck paying for entry, and slipped into Lance’s car with a bottle of tequila in hand when the other human left the car. Keith didn’t much appreciate the shock in Lance’s voice when he made his presence known.

“What are you doing here?” Hissed Lance.

Keith shrugged and drank some more tequila. He honestly thought he grabbed a bottle of Jack, but he grabbed Ulaz’s tequila instead. He would be pissed off at him when he found out. But that fucker could go and snort some cocaine.

“Your door was unlocked so I decided to come in and see you.” Said Keith. “So, what’s going on in the god sphere?”

Lance groaned in frustration. “Keith… You can’t just come inside someone-”

“I ask if they want to use a condom first.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“I’m guessing you weren’t talking about sex?”

“Of course I wasn’t going to talk about sex!” Snapped Lance. “I was going to say you can’t come inside someone’s car without knocking first.”

“Do I have to wear a condom to do that?”

“... No.”

“Then I don’t see the problem.” Keith drank some more before he offered the bottle to Lance. “Tequila?”

Lance looked at him in disbelief. “I’m driving.”

“So? I drink all the time. I still drive.”

“... Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Should a Pastor be using the lord’s name in vain?”

“I’ll ask for forgiveness later.” Muttered Lance. “You shouldn’t be drinking and driving. You could kill yourself or other people!”

Keith sighed and slumped into his seat. Alcohol was like water to a demon… Okay, it gave him a little buzz, but that was about it. It didn’t really fuck with him like it did with humans. Humans were fucking weak when it came to alcohol… Apart from the Russians and the Germans. He was pretty sure some of them could out drink him if they really, really tried. Well, Antok had warned him of the dangers of those humans.

“Fine, I won’t drive.” He lied. Keith looked up at the movie and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s bullshit. Demons don’t catch on fire around crosses and that junk.”

Lance glanced back up at the screen. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Keith leaned forward and grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Yeah. Besides, most religious iconography doesn’t actually hurt demons. It annoys them. It’s because they have been conditioned over years to know it’s a dangerous thing. Like seeing the dollar symbol, or a symbol for a car. It’s just a thing they have learned to avoid. It only hurts if you believe it will hurt them.”

“... So, Tinkerbell logic?”

“What?”

“You know; I do believe in fairies. I do. I do?”

“... So, people make out and fuck at these things, right?”

Lance groaned in annoyance and settled into their seat. “I’m still celebate. Not going to fuck you.”

Keith didn’t want to do this, but his mother was a genuine, bonafide succubus. With the flick of her wrist she could seduce any man or woman she pleased. Just her existence was enough to drive human crazy to the point of insanity… So she doesn’t come to earth very often. She also kind of has the huge problem of literally fucking people to death. They mostly died of heart attacks, but still. The point was, Keith, while he might not be a full succubus, had succubus traits.

Keith moved slightly and let his tail slip out of a small hole under one of the belt loops. He flicked the tip of his tail a few times so the tip would expand into its proper spade shape. At the very tip, with a bit of flexing, a small stinger like protrusion extended from the very tip of the spade. It was a bit of a dirty trick, but a demon has to do what a demon has to do.

He leaned forward and loosely wrapped his arms around Lances shoulders. He felt the human freeze up under him. “Lance… Everyone has a libido. Just using your hand isn’t always enough is it?”

“... Sex is the only thing running through your mind, huh?”

“Hey, I might be a little pushy, but if you’re worried about me forcing you to do anything, that just isn’t me… Plus Kolivan would beat my ass if he found out I sexually assaulted someone. We have a pretty strong code of conduct.”

“I-I see…” Lance attempted to move his hands away from his body. “A-and what is part of your code of conduct?”

“Just a few simple things.” Said Keith as he snaked his tail around to find Lance’s leg. “Stuff about not hurting kids. Not going overboard when it comes to fighting people. Killing random people isn’t allowed. Rape is deffinetally not allowed… Though threatening it is fine. Depends on the situation.”

“... I feel like you guys have done some really, really shady things if that is part of your code of conduct…”

“Said the guy that follows the laws in a dusty old book that says raping a woman is fine if you pay her father off for it.” Keith knew his bible.

“... Touche. Does this mean you actually know the bible or just Atheist rebuttals?”

Keith shrugged as he ran his hands along Lance’s arms. They were well toned but kind of soft. He liked it. He leaned forward a little and took his time to inhale Lance’s scent. “I know a fair bit about religion. Consider it a special interest of mine. I have a general knowledge of the big five and some of the more obscure ones.”

“The big five?”

“Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Budaism.” Said Keith. “They are the top five religions in the world… Is my knowledge of religions turning you on?”

“People don’t say no to you a lot, do they?” Asked Lance quietly.

Keith chuckled, and grinned when he felt Lance shiver under his hand. Time to strike. He quickly jabbed Lance in the thigh with the tip of his stinger. The stinger broke off, but that was okay. It was meant to do that. Though it would be about a week before he was able to grow another one. He moved one hand up and lightly ran his fingers over Lance’s neck. His pulse was already speeding up. Lance should be a little more responsive to suggestions now. All he had to do was get Lance to kiss him and then the real fun could begin.

“Despite what you might think, I do know how to take no for an answer. I just like you.” Purred Keith. “You’ve caught my interest, Pastor. Before I knew you were a Pastor I wanted you… Who dictated you should deny yourself your natural urges? Your god or the church?”

“... Keith I-”

“Your devotion to your religion is admirable, but be realistic. You’re only human… Be my bride.”

Lance froze for a moment before he quickly turned around. “Excuse me? What did you just say to me?”

Alarms were going off in Keith’s head. This was not right. Something was wrong here. The venom in his stinger should have had immediate effect. Lance should be like putty in his hands right now. He shouldn’t be getting angry at him. Did his venom not work? He stabbed him right in his jeans. His stinger was thick enough to stab through it. Why didn’t it work? Was it because Lance was a Pastor? He had some kind of faith based, divine protection? He needed to retreat and figure this out.

“Um…”

Suddenly the passenger door opened up and the other human sat back in. “Just so you know one of the toilets is out of order and-” He quickly spotted Keith in the backseat with his arms draped across Lance’s shoulders. “Um… Am I interrupting something?”

“Just needed to ask the Pastor a few questions.” Said Keith. “I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, Lance.” Keith quickly slipped out of the car and walked quickly back to where he left his bike. When he was far enough away from people he grabbed his tail and inspected the tip of it.

It was a clean sting. The whole stinger was pulled out when he jabbed Lance. He didn’t understand. He needed to talk to Shiro about this. Maybe Antok? He was an Incubus. He would have a vague idea about succubus biology… Though that thought made him cringe a little. Knowing Antok he’d grab Keith by his tail and hoist him into the air to inspect his tail. He was gonna end up with all the blood rushing to his head. Not fun.

At least he still had his tequila… Which he didn’t have… Because he dropped it when he left the car. “Fuck.”

***

Lance was quietly screaming. That was just a coincidence, right? Keith telling him to be his bride… That was… It was all just a coincidence. Either way that just made him uncomfortable. “I’m going to go to the bathroom…” Muttered Lance. “Maybe get something to eat…”

Hunk gave him a concerned look. “Okay…”

He quickly left the car and walked to the concession stand. Keith was way too much. Way, way too much. As he got closer to the stand he went to grab his wallet only to find he couldn’t get his hand in his pocket. He looked down and was surprised to see that he had a thorn looking thing sticking out of his pocket. 

Lance pulled it out, tossed it away, and was able to take his wallet out. Though his pocket and his wallet now has some weird oil stain on it. He had no idea what he brushed up against to get this, but damn, these were some of his favourite jeans.


	7. Mama

Keith yelped and squirmed as Antok yanked him into the air by his tail. He had gone back and talked to Antok about his succubus sting not working on Lance, so the older incubus was checking his tail. This was not fun. He flailed around and squirmed when Antok grabbed the flat spade part of his tail and practically crushed it in his palm.

“FUCK!” Yelled Keith. “THAT FUCKING HURTS YOU PRICK!”

Antok rolled his eyes and kept squeezing it. “Well you’re a half succubus. Your tail needs a bit of force to open up. You want me to check everything, right?” He looked around the room for a moment and huffed. “Is there a chopstick somewhere or a knitting needle?” He dragged Keith towards the door of the shitty motel room and looked out at the other bikers just sitting around drinking beer and tuning up their bikes. He pointed to someone who had decorative chopsticks in their hair. “Hey! Pass me one of those!”

Antok was one hell of an intimidating demon, and Kolivan’s second in command. What he said, as long as it didn’t contradict Kolivan, goes. So the biker quickly took one out and tossed it at Antok. He caught it and went back into the room. Thankfully he sat down which meant Keith could dig his nails into the carpet and try to scamper away. However it was pointless. Antok’s grip was ironclad.

He squeezed around the tip of Keith’s tail, making him yelp again. “There it is…” Muttered Antok. He pressed the tip of the chopstick into the small opening where Keith’s stinger previously poked through and forced it open. Keith hissed and tried to squirm away as his tail was forcefully peeled open like a flower. A grotesque looking pink flower covered in fleshy pink bumps. 

A succubus’s tail was made entirely out of muscle. No bones at all. The point of this tail? Well, there were several uses. It was primarily used for sex. There was a sphincter located at the very base of the tail where the tip spread opened that was incredibly stretchy and when their tail opened up it could easily take another dick. Not very useful when fucking one person, but it was fantasic when it came to orgies. Their tails were also pretty good for choking out a bitch in a pinch. Also that was where their stinger was kept too.

The only way to check a succubus’s stinger and venom pouch was to open up their tail to physically get to it. Since Keith was a half succubus he never needed to use his tail for anything other than strangling people and stinging people he wanted to fuck, but they were playing hard to get anyway.

“I’m going to fucking stab you in your sleep.” Growled Keith. He didn’t like this one fucking bit. He liked it even less when Antok squeezed on his venom pouch and made some of his venom squirt out. “FUCK!”

“... Are you sure you stung Lance in the leg?” Asked Antok. “You seem to be producing a good amount of venom, and it was a clean break. You pulled the stinger right out.”

Keith was pissed and looked over his shoulder at Antok. “I know how to fucking sting a fucking human! I got him right in the fucking thigh! You done molesting me yet? Why don’t you just finger my tail while you’re at it?” Antok gave him a blank expression as he started to poke around the sphincter in his tail with the chopstick. Keith squeaked and tried to crawl away. “I WAS JOKING!”

“Why is Keith shrieking?” Asked Shiro as he looked into the room. “... Is this consensual?”

“To a degree.” Said Antok. “Keith stung the Pastor, but nothing happened to him. I was just checking Keith’s venom pouch to see if he was defective. It’s not.” He let Keith’s tail go and Keith quickly scrambled away to hide behind Shiro. “The only thing I can think is that the Pastor is a lot more holy than first expected… Very few people can resist a succubus sting. The only ones that can have hormone problems.”

“I thought acesexuals were immune to you guys?” Asked Shiro.

Antok rolled his eyes. “I’m talking about sex on a puerly physical level. Asexuals still have a working libido Shiro.”

“Fair enough.” Shiro looked at Keith and patted his head. “Come on. I got a bucket of party shots we can share.”

“Good. I’m staying the fuck away from the demon molester over here!”

Antok shrugged and turned on the TV. Shiro ushered Keith out of the room and Keith looked down at his poor tail. He just couldn’t believe the indignity of it all. He was just expecting Antok to squeeze his tail, not pry the damn thing open and poke around it.

Shiro took Keith up to the roof of the motel. They made themselves comfortable and Shiro opened his party bucket of shots and put it between them. Keith quickly downed a few while trying to flatten his crumpled tail. It sucked that it was so crinkled now. 

He just needed to think of a new plan to seduce Lance. Lance was… he was very cute and he was right in his grasp… If they could have just kissed he just knew that Lance would have totally melted into his arms… and on his dick… But that was beside the point. How the fuck was he meant to get into the pants of a Pastor when he was immune to his sting?

Sensing Keith’s frustration, Shiro said some words of wisdom. “Patience yields focus.”

“That is bullshit.” Grumbled Keith. “How the fuck am I meant to be attractive to the Pastor of a Catholic church?”

Shiros shrugged. “Can you shapeshift your body to look like a seven year old boy?”

“Fuck off. Lance isn’t no pedo.” Grumbled Keith. “He is totally turned on by me, he’s just… He’s not interested in me because he decided to try and live without getting a good dicking. Fucking crazy...”

Shiro shook his head and downed a shot. “Yeah, some humans are weird. I never understood why sex was such a disgusting thing to humans. It’s natural to want to do it. Maybe they think it’s too animalistic to want sex? Something they need to put in a box and categorize to try and distinguish between good sex and sinful sex?”

“Fuck, humans are stupid.”

“Sex between men and women, good. Sex between two men or two women, bad.” Said Shiro in a mocking tone. “Sex to have babies, good. Sex to relieve tension and to feel good about yourself, bad. Like, if you’re horny and you need it then why not? Use your hand and jerk that sausage. Flick that bean. You do you fam.”

“... Have you been listening to shitty radio stations that are focused on the youth again?”

“I’m trying to keep up with the current vocabulary. Am I doing it right?”

“Fuck no.”

“Well shit.” Shiro laid back and looked up at the stars. “You could try and just be overly sexual with Lance until he can’t take it anymore and throws himself at you? Maybe actually show him that you’re a demon and know he wants to get his dick wet? Maybe you’ll eventually get your dick sucked, or you can suck his dick?”

Keith sighed heavily. “Maybe? … Lance is making me sexually frustrated.”

Shiro couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Really? Wow, Lance has you wrapped around his finger and he doesn’t even know it.”

Keith pouted and looked down at his own hand. His fingers were covered by his fingerless gloves, but underneath was a scar matching Lance’s around his own ring finger. It made him smile a little. Maybe he should just show Lance what he really was, but then again he might get a crucifix to his face if that happened. The church and demons got along like water and oil.

He took another shot and looked up at the stars. Fuck, he missed Lance already. Lance was… He was perfect. He wanted to hold him and kiss him. Touch him and well… Pin him down and fuck him into the nearest flat surface. Was that so bad? He was sure that Lance would look so pretty taking his dick… 

Especially under the shadow of the virgin Mary in the church. Hell, he’d love it if Lance railed him hard and pulled on his tail… Maybe in the confessional? He would melt if Lance fucked his ass in the confessional. Damn, he just looked so sexy and pretty…

“Do you think Lance would like getting eaten out?” Asked Keith.

Shiro shrugged. “Who doesn’t like getting eaten out? And with our tongues-” Shiro stuck his tongue out, letting it drop far past his chin. “-Lance is not going to be able to resist it. When you eventually get into his pants and make him your bride.”

Keith huffed and pouted. He was going to bed Lance and make him his bride soon enough. Even if Lance was immune to all his demonic ways he would get Lance to fall in love with him and then they would be together.

The sudden rumble of a motorbike coming up the road made bother Shiro and Keith take pause. They looked over the edge and watched as a biker wearing the Mamora colours rolled into the parking lot. They hadn’t been riding with them when they first rolled into town. The other bikers watched closely as they took off their helmet. She tussled her hair and someone threw a can of beer at her. She easily caught it and cracked it open.

Keith groaned in annoyance. “I thought she said she would meet us in Alaska…”

Shiro shrugged. “Krolia does what Krolia wants. We should go down and say hi to her. She is your mother after all.”

“... I don’t wanna… She’s gonna berate me for not fucking Lance yet.” Muttered Keith.

“I know.” Said Shiro. “But this is your own damn fault and you know it.”

“... Shut up.”

***

Lance was kind of thankful that Keith didn’t show up at the church the next day. He needed a whole day to calm down. He spent most of that day in his office in the church reading through 1 Corinthians to find the highlighted verses about celibacy. This particular bible also had a lot of other things highlighted in it. Verses about lying, stealing, adultery, and converting. He was trying to cover the basics when it came to people confessing or seeking advice.

He kind of felt a little better after reading through some verses, but he could still feel Keith’s hands all over him and he felt guilty that he enjoyed it. Maybe being a Pastor wasn’t the best choice of work for him? He shook his head and kept reading the bible.

He heard a knock on his door and quickly looked up. “Come in.” He called.

The door opened up and a very pretty woman walked in. She was older, possibly around her late thirties, early forties. She was wearing jeans and a biker vest. She looked like she was probably part of the Mamora biker gang. Maybe. He couldn’t see the back of her jacket to check her colours. She could have just been some random person just passing through.

She smiled softly at him. “Good afternoon father. I hope I am not interrupting anything?”

“Oh no, just catching up on some light reading.” Lance quickly put his bible away and smiled at her. “How can I help you today Miss?”

“Krolia.” She said as she sat down. “My name is Krolia. It’s nice to meet you.”

‘It’s nice to meet you too.” He said. “So… what can I do for you?”

“Well, I am a part of the Mamora biker gang.” She said. “I had things to handle in another city so I stayed back while they went ahead of me… And when I came into town I got word of a rather attractive young man being the local Pastor, so I came to check it out.”

Lance felt his face heat up a little as he quickly looked away. “Oh I um… I see… I-I admit that I am a little young, but I am qualified to be working here.” He wondered if she had heard some of the older women talking about him? They usually do that kind of stuff.

She grinned and leaned forward in her chair. “My son said you were a very handsome, modest man.”

“You son?”

“Yes. Keith.” She said. “Keith is my son.”

“O-oh…” Well, that was kind of embarrassing. His face heated up more.

“I can see my son was right.”

Lance felt like his face was on fire with embarrassment. “I-I um… I… So… Is Keith’s father also part of the Mamora group?”

Krolia sighed sadly. “Unfortunately his father isn’t with us anymore…”

“Oh, I’m so sor-”

“The idiot tripped and his bike fell on him. He’s at home with a broken hip.” She said with a solemn look on her face. “I told him he hadn’t propped it up properly, but no… So yeah… Akira is at home and probably very annoyed right now.”

“Oh okay.” That was a lot better than he thought.

“Anyway, I came here to get a good look at you.” Said Krolia. “I want to know if you will treat my son right.”

“... What?”

Krolia rolled her eyes like Lance was a fool. “I am seeing if you are a good match for him. You seem to be that way.”

Lance’s brain had officially shut down. Did Krolia not realise he was a Pastor? Dating someone, anyone, let alone a man, was not allowed. Well, maybe he could date if nothing sexual happened. He’d have to ask someone about that, but he was pretty sure he couldn’t. Still, he was the Pastor of a small town Catholic church. Dating a woman would be bad enough, but Keith was a man.

Suddenly Krolia was standing right next to him and grabbed his chin, tilting his face up so they were face to face. Lance’s breath caught in his throat as she stared at him with her cold and calculating eyes. Her gaze made him freeze.

“Hmm, your eyes are a lovely shade of blue. You know that Pastor?”

“I-I um… I have been told so…”

She chuckled. “I like you… Well, if you aren’t interested in my son. I would-”

The office door was suddenly flung open and Keith was standing there. He looked mortified. “Krolia!”

Both looked over at him. Krolia just chuckled and smiled at her son. “Hello Keith. So why are you here?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb with me.” Muttered Keith. “I say one nice thing about one guy then you run off to find him?!”

“I told you I was going to town for some milk.”

“I talked to Kolivan and he said you were coming here!” Snapped Keith. He groaned in frustration. “I am so sorry Lance. My mother is a whore.”

Lance gasped in shock. “Keith! You can’t just say that about your own mo-”

“He’s right.” Said Krolia calmly. She looked at Lance and smiled. “Don’t you worry though. Keith is the spitting image of his father.”

Keith rolled his eyes and pulled Krolia out of the office. “I am so sorry Lance. I will get this whore out of the church. Let’s go.”

Krolia laughed and waved at Lance. “See you around pretty boy.”

Once they were gone Lance slumped down in his chair. He had no idea what the hell had just happened. Keith’s family was… Well they were interesting to say the least. He picked up his bible again and decided to just try and forget about what just happened and go back to trying to reassure himself that celibacy was the right choice for him.

***

When the two demons were in the parking lot, Keith was pissed. “Damn it Krolia!” He snapped. “What were you thinking? Why would you do that?!”

She shrugged. “I just wanted to meet my future son in law.” 

“Yeah, fuck the future son in law more like it.” Growled Keith. 

“You say that like it’s not normal for demons.”

“You’d fuck him to death! He’s human!”

“And since when did demons care about something trivial like death stopping us from having a good fuck?”

He glared daggers at her. “Stay away from Lance. He is mine. I’ve already marked him as my bride. Back off.”

She seemed amused by this. “Oh really now? You chose a Pastor as your bride? You either have very poor taste or are a masochist… And I know I raised you better than that, so you’re a masochist.”

Keith pouted and huffed. “Just stay away from him. He’s mine. None of your weird succubus tricks. I want him all for myself.”

She shrugged and got on her bike. “Alright Mr grouchy. I can tell when I am not wanted… But I am going to be here to give you some motherly advice on how to seduce yourself a man.”

Keith pouted some more. “I can do it myself.”

“Sure you can.” Krolia revved the engine a few times and smiled at him. “Just come and look for me. Okay? I want to help you.”

“Yeah, help yourself more like it.” He grumbled. She just shook her head and happily drove away. This was annoying as fuck. Krolia being here was going to make things all the more difficult for him. She was a full succubus! If she wanted to she could just gesture for someone like Lance to come over to her so she could have them and they would willingly do it. They would willingly let Krolia take them and die. Now that she was mildly interested in Lance he would have to put his energy into keeping Krolia away from his bride too along with trying to get into his pants.


	8. Third attempt

Sundays were the days most people choose to confess. Lance wondered if it was because they genuinely had something to confess or if they wanted to have a clean slate for the next week. He kind of wondered if he should consider doing an online course to get a basic understanding of psychology under his belt. It would really help when some people came to actually talk to him one on one.

So far today, he had heard a woman confess she was jealous at her neighbours garden, a man who wanted to divorce his wife but didn’t want to split assets, a man who was questioning his faith, some senior high school girls that confessed to cheating on some tests at school, and a little boy that was feeling guilty about breaking a toy his grandma bought him.

He also had some one on one sessions with a family… That were worried about their son being gay… and they wanted to send him to conversion therapy… Which was horrific in itself. Lance just had to try and not lose his shit at their parents and just had to ask him if they were admitting that God was wrong? And if that failed he told them he was sorry that the devil had poisoned their hearts. That usually shocked religious homophobes enough so they would back off for a week or two. Some people were just crazy.

On days like this Lance needed a drink. So after they left, Lance sneaked into the little store room in the back of his office. There was a fridge in there where Lance kept the grape juice for the A.A meetings and for doing communion… Also one bottle or actual red wine that he only drank from after dealing with the crazies.

He poured himself a glass and sat back down at his desk. “Lord give me strength…” He muttered as he quickly downed half a cup before topping it off. He just needed to do a bit of dusting and he said he would help one of the older ladies with her garden. Not too bad. He hoped that she didn’t have any daisies. He walked here today because he knew he was going to be drinking.

Another glass and a quick dusing later Lance was able to leave the church and question how or why people still thought being gay was unnatural. Considering there were frogs that lived in elephant shit, 50% of orangutans have fractured bones from falling out of trees, ostriches find humans more attractive than other ostriches, and most animals can be hypnotized. Being gay was the most normal and natural thing in the animal kingdom. Humans were so fucking stupid.

He walked to the bakery where Hunk was working to get some food, which Hunk was more than happy to give him, and since there was a bit of down time, they had some time to talk.

“How are things going?” Asked Hunk.

“Church is still going as strong as it can be in this town.” Said Lance. “I’m thinking of getting a building inspector to come out soon to see if it’s all up to code… I saw some cracks in the ceiling the other day and I need someone about it.”

Hunk hummed a little and nodded. “Yeah, that is pretty bad… I’ll ask around and see if anyone knows anyone that does that kind of stuff. If I find the right people they might be able to give you a bit of a discount, since you’re the church and all that… Maybe consider a bake sale?”

“Yeah, I’m thinking about that.” Said Lance. “We are making enough to keep the lights and water running, but if the roof suddenly springs a leak then we might be in trouble… It would be nice to have a few hundred stored away for repairs…” He clapped his hands. “Okay, I’ll talk to the town council about the idea and see if I need to get some permits and stuff signed.”

“Awesome. Let me know if it comes through. I’ll happily whip up a few sheet cakes and some pastries for you too.”

Lance was touched. “Aw, Hunk, you’re the best… Could you make some shortbread?”

“Of course… Oh, by the way, mind taking this off my hands?” Asked Hunk. He quickly walked back to the fridge and came back out with a cake box. He opened it and inside was an apple pie. “Lady canceled her order. Now I have an extra pie. Not a huge apple fan myself so… Take it? Please?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lance happily took the box and smiled. “I’ll go and see if Pidge and Matt want some. I haven’t seen them in a while.”

“Sounds like a plan. Tell them I said hi.”

“Will do big guy.” Lance happily took the pie and happily headed down to the bottle shop by the motel… the motel… that the bikers were staying at… the bikers that Keith happened to be a part of… Keith obviously had a thing for him or at least wanted to fuck him… And Krolia was either a little interested in him too or was fucking with his head. Either way that would be like, so bad. Firstly; he was a Pastor. Secondly; he assumed Krolia was married so adultery.

He shook his head and continued to walk to the motel. Lance was a little surprised to see a few of the bikers sweeping up some glass from smashed bottles. At least they were cleaning up, which was nice. Okay, they weren’t particularly good people, but they were nice people.

Lance walked into the bottle shop and saw Matt standing behind the counter. He smiled and grinned at him. “Hey Lance. Long time no see. What’s up?”

“Nothing much. How’s business?”

“Booming.” Said Matt. “Those bikers drink everything and pay in cash. Each one comes in at least three times a day to buy stuff. We are making bank.”

“Well at least they are good for the economy.” Mused Lance as he walked over. “So, Hunk gave me an apple pie, want some?”

“Oh hell yeah. One second.” He went into the back room and came out with Pidge.

“Heard you had pie you Catholic son of a bitch?” They asked.

“Damn right you sinful heathen.” Said Lance. “Straight from the baking angel, Hunk, himself.”

Pidge grinned. “Perfect.” They quickly grabbed the box and headed into the back room and vanished.

“... I just lost the pie, didn’t I?” Asked Matt.

“I think you did.”

“... Well shit.” Matt pouted a little before he sighed dramatically. “Anyway, want to buy something, or were you just dropping off the pie?”

“I’m just going to brows for a bit.” Said Lance as he gestured to the fridges.

“By all means… I’m going to make sure Pidge doesn’t eat the whole pie.” He ducked into the back room and left Lance alone.

Lance hummed and happily looked through the fridges. He enjoyed a bit of alcohol every other night. Lance looked between the cider and beer. He wasn’t sure which one he wanted more. Maybe he’d get both?

“Hey Lance.”

Lance quickly spun around to see Shiro. The man was smiling at him with a bottle of bourbon in one hand. He seemed pretty chill, if not a little tired looking.

The Pastor let out a sigh of relief. “Man, you scared the life out of me for a second there… How are you Shiro?”

“Not bad. Krolia’s back so things have been… Interesting.” Said Shiro with a slight laugh. “She’s Keith’s mother. She’s kind of interesting.”

“Yeah… Keith kind of called her a whore…”

“Well she is one so not that big of an insult.” Said Shiro. “Yeah, we don’t have the same standards that most people have when it comes to things like that. We’re all about giving people second chances. Lots of us have done some bad stuff in the past and well… If I’m honest, Krolia’s practically a saint compared to some of the shit everyone else has done.”

“... Alright.” Lance did not need a reason to fear the Mamora bike gang anymore than he already did.

The man chuckled and looked at the fridge. “What are you planning to get? Beer or cider?”

“Not sure.”

“Then get both?” Suggested Shiro. “Indulge yourself a little.”

“Ah, I do attempt to live relatively modestly...”

Shiro chuckled. “Just get both. If you don’t tell I won’t tell.”

“Ah, well I guess you talked me into it.” Lance reached in to grab the alcohol he wanted.

“So, serious question. Do you like Keith?”

Lance froze up. “Like, as a person? He’s um… He’s okay. A little rough around the edges but he… Um… He isn’t my type.”

“Oh?”

“Y-yeah… I um… I’m straight…” He lied. “I’m not attracted to men so…”

Shiro raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “Right… Still, Keith really likes you. He’s been infatuated with you… He wants you to at least like him a little. Keith does come off very strong, but he has a good heart and well… He does like you…”

Lance frowned a little. When he thought about it, he could still feel Keith’s arms and hands running over his body. It made him shudder. “Yeah… I can kind of tell… He um… He’s very handsy…”

“Yeah, he kind of is… Keith isn’t very good with words. I swear he’s going to end up with a felony if he touches the wrong person.” Said Shiro.

“I’d hope so…” Muttered Lance. “I’d hate to see Keith taken away for something like that…”

“I’d hate to see Keith getting put in the slammer again.” Said Shiro. “Last time… Yeah, that wasn’t fun for anyone… But Keith is still a really, really nice guy. Not like one of those fake nice guys, but like, a nice guy.”

“Right…”

Matt came out of the back room with a little bit of apple pie on his face. “Back! Hey Shiro. Being nice to the Pastor here?”

“Of course.” Said Shiro. “I’d never lay a hand on a man of god.” He gestured for Lance to go to the counter. “You first.”

“Thanks.” Lance quickly walked forward and paid for his drinks. “See you guys later.” He quickly left the shop and headed back home. He felt like someone’s eyes were on him. He glanced over at the motel and saw someone sitting up there. It was a bit too far away for him to tell who it was, but he knew it was Keith. They waved at him and Lance waved back.

***

Keith felt his heart skip a beat when Lance waved back at him. He saw him and he waved at him. He made an inhuman, high pitched noise and quickly hid behind his hands. Lance waved at him. He looked at him and waved. That was so cute. Lance was so cute. 

If only Lance was that cute when they were face to face… He wanted to hug and kiss him and well… Do a bunch of other things that would make the Pastor blush… Keith shook his head. He wanted Lance really badly, but he had some weird divine protection on him so he couldn’t use his usual tactics to encourage Lance to slip into his bed.

He still didn’t know how to seduce Lance. Humans were strange things that changed their minds about what they wanted as often as the wind changed. He needed Lance to want him just as much as he wanted the Pastor. Maybe he should try sneaking into his dreams again and try to seduce him again? It would give him a headache, but he would do it again.

“Stop imagining and just do it.” Said Krolia.

Keith glared at her. “Leave me alone. I’ll get him eventually…”

“At this rate? I doubt it.”

He huffed and looked away from him. “Shut up. I’m not. I’m going to make him mine… I just have to go slowly. Slow… Slow is good. Okay?”

“Not really. Slow is slow.” Said Krolia. “If you want to go slow then do it after you fuck. He isn’t your bride until you two have consummate it with the exchange of sexual bodily fluids. Just leaving that little scar on his finger does not make him your bride. It’s simply a promise.”

“He is still my bride.” Muttered Keith. “I want him… and I want him to admit that he wants me…”

She grinned and sat next to him. “Oh? So you want him to be completely infatuated with you? Unable to take his eyes off you? Want him to lust after you? Want every subconscious thought to revolve around you?”

“... Yes.”

“How are your pheromone glands going?” Asked Krolia. “Still under developed?”

“Yes…”

She shook her head and let her tail slip out. Her tail was similar to Keith’s but was much more purple and the tip of her tail looked much more like a heart. A thin stinger slipped out of the tip and she happily held her tail over Keith’s head. 

“Come on. Open your mouth. You need a few drops.” She said.

Keith rolled his eyes and opened his mouth. He watched as a tiny bead of venom built up on the tip of her stinger before it became too heavy, and the drop fell into his mouth. It tasted like boot polish and made him gag a little. Succubus venom, when given to other succubi, can help enhance their own natural physical traits. In other words, taking a drop of pure succubus venom would let Keith use his succubus powers to their full extent for a short period of time.

Krolia chuckled when he cringed and patted his back. “You good now?”

“Yeah, I think I’m good.”

“Alright. Now go and get your man.” Said Krolia. “No man can resist the sexual pheromones of a succubus! You’ll have him eating your ass before sunset!”

Keith rolled his eyes and stood up. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be back soon.”

“With your bride?”

“With my bride.”

***

Lance couldn’t stop sneezing. Mrs Smith had daisies. So many daisies. Lance was allergic to daisies. He had a few antihistamines on himself just in case something like this happened, but he was still stuffed up to the point he couldn’t smell or taste anything. It sucked. He was going to be like this well into tomorrow morning.

But Mrs Smith was in her late 70’s and was nice enough to put his alcohol in her fridge while he worked. She also gave him some lemonade. Which was really nice of her. She didn’t have to. He was just happy to help out someone in need.

She went back inside to watch her soaps while Lance pulled up some weeds and just neatened things up for her. Though Lance did have snot running down his face by the end of it all and his eyes were getting a little red and puffy. He had a scrunched up tissue in his pocket, quickly wiped his eyes and blew his nose hard. It didn’t clear his sinuses at all but snot wasn’t running down his chin anymore.

Suddenly Keith popped up by him. “You’re not an easy man to find Pastor.” Said Keith.

Lance jumped a little. “Oh, hey there Keith. What’s up?”

“Oh nothing. Just wondering what you’re doing.”

Keith shrugged. “Oh, you know… Just… coming by to see you. Thought you would be at home…”

Lance shrugged and dusted his hands off. “Well I’m just helping out someone that asked for help. Mrs Smith’s kids live in the city a few hours away. So I don’t mind helping her out.”

“Right… So do you want to do something with me today?”

“Um…” Lance was reluctant to go anywhere with Keith after the last time they were alone.

“If you’re worried because about last time I won’t do anything. I promise.” Said Keith. “Hands to myself. Won’t touch anything. I promise.” He seemed to almost purr that last part.

It made Lance feel a little uneasy, but then again, he didn’t feel that off. Keith looked like he was attempting to seduce him. Which was kind of amusing to him in a way. Keith was still obviously trying to get into his pants. Once again he was going to have to turn Keith down.

“You can promise as much as you like, but you tried to molest me.” Said Lance coldly. “Do you really think I can trust you to be anywhere with me? Let alone be with me alone?”

“... I stopped my mum from jumping you the other day.” He muttered. “That has to count for something.”

“Yeah, your mother is interesting.” Muttered Lance. “Is she… Um… Does your father…?”

“Know that my mother is a whore and sleeps around with men and women alike? Yeah. They have an open marriage.” Said Keith.

“Oh…”

He shrugged. “I know you probably think it’s immoral or something but Krolia apparently has an extremely high libido. My dad would rather have her satisfy herself rather than break his pelvis or give him a heart attack.”

“... Right.” That was way more than he needed to know about Krolia’s sex life.

“Yeah, anyway, I’d still really like to hang out with you some more… Please?” Asked Keith quietly. He gently reached over the fence and held Lance’s hand. His skin was surprisingly soft and warm. “Lance, I… I know I don’t deserve it… But please? Give me a second chance?”

Lance knew he shouldn’t, but Keith still didn’t seem like a bad person. Well, in this situation he would turn the other cheek. “Okay. Fine…”

Keith grinned. “Thanks Lance. Let’s go now.”

“What? No.”

“... No?” Keith looked extremely confused.

“I have things I still have to do.” Said Lance calmly. “I know you might be into spontaneity and all that, but I still have things I need to do. Later tonight, okay? We can watch some TV or just drink on the porch. Okay?”

Keith still looked stunned. “O-okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you tonight. Goodbye Keith.”

“Bye Lance…” Keith awkwardly walked off, giving Lance a few confused glances before he rounded the corner.

When he was gone Lance took out his tissue again and blew his nose. Hopefully by tonight he would be able to actually breathe out his nose. Allergies sucked.

***

When Keith got back to the motel he walked into the first room he saw and threw himself onto the bed. He let out a frustrated scream into one of the pillows. As he let out his frustrations Ulaz looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Something wrong? Why do you smell like pheromones?”

Keith looked up at him and glared. “I tried to seduce Lance.”

“Ah, I take it that it didn’t go well?”

“I’m convinced that Lance is protected by God at this point.” Growled Keith. “I was turning heads when I was walking back here! Lance didn’t even flinch! I was so close to him! I touched his hand! There is no way a normal human would be able to pull themselves away from me! The second he smelled my pheromones he should have been begging to get into my pants!”

“... That is kind of concerning.” Muttered Ulaz. “You’d usually expect someone much higher up in their religious circle to be more immune to the attacks of a succubus… Maybe, now this is just a theory, but perhaps Lance is the holiest person in town?”

“So what if he is?”

“If he is, then that means that Lance is the most morally pure according to his religious doctrine.” Said Ulaz. “That would mean he has the strongest belief and faith out of everyone in town, and therefore, Lance is the holiest person in town. Since he is the holiest that means he, as long as he is the highest person of religious authority in town, has the same level of holy immunity as the Pope.”

“... So Lance is the Pope?” Asked Keith in shock.

“Until his boss visits town, then yes.” Said Ulaz calmly. “You’re going to have to ditch demon manipulation and try actually trying to woo him with no cheap tricks.”

“...” Keith buried his face into a pillow and screamed some more. Why did Lance have to make things so difficult just by being his sexy, pure, holy self?


	9. Vulnerable

Much to Lance’s surprise Keith actually came over to his house that night. He looked a little nervous standing in the doorway. He had brought a bottle of liquor with him. “So you actually came over?” Asked Lance.

“... Yeah? Did you not want me to?” Asked Keith. He sounded dejected. 

“No I… Just take a seat and I’ll be out in a moment.” Lance didn’t want Keith in his house just yet. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Keith, but he didn’t trust Keith. He grabbed some glasses and came out. Keith was sitting out on the porch and looked like they were kicking some stones. Unsure of how long they were going to be out there, Lance flicked on the outside light and sat by him, offering him an empty glass.

“Thanks.” Keith poured them both a glass. The glasses were small and Keith easily downed his glass in one gulp while Lance took his time.

“You must be very interesting at parties.” Mused Lance.

Keith shrugged. “Maybe. Do you even go to parties?”

“I did go to parties.” Said Lance. “Just not many as of late… So um… Were your parents always part of this biker gang?”

Keith chuckled. “Oh? You asking me about my life? Are you taking an interest in my life?”

Lance rolled his eyes and polished off his drink. He just honestly didn’t know what else to talk about with Keith. They were just so different. Being a Pastor was as different from being a biker as possible. He was just trying to be polite.

“Yeah, my parents have always been part of the gang.” Said Keith. “They took turns switching between taking care of me and going on a ride. They were good parents… Though my earliest memories I have are with my dad. Apparently my mum stayed with me the first year or so, but I was too small to remember it.”

“Hmmm, are you going to go home after this?” Asked Lance. “Krolia mentioned that your dad has broken his hips.”

“Oh, we have a few more stops before we head back.” Said Keith quickly. “He can survive without us around for a few more days. It’ll be fine… We just need to bring him a six pack and some jerky when we get back home. He likes beef jerky.”

“Huh, alright.” Lance wondered how being brought up the way Keith had might have changed and warped his world view. “So… did you always want to join the biker gang or did you have something else you wanted to do?”

Keith shook his head. “I’m going to be real with you Lance, I don’t really have much in the way of education or life skills…”

“It’s never too late to turn your life around.” Said Lance. “Sure if you have a felony, you can’t get government jobs… but you can still make something of yourself. You can start your own business if you want. You’re young, you have a lot of options… Pour me another glass?”

“Sure.” Keith poured Lance another glass. “... I guess I could do something else.”

“Yeah… Maybe start with cutting back on the alcohol?” Suggested Lance. “I know going cold turkey is practically a death sentence, but cutting back is a pretty good start?”

“I guess… Would you like me more if I cut back on my drinking?”

Lance sighed. Drinking too much was never a good thing. He didn’t know if he would like Keith more if he stopped drinking, but Keith’s liver would be very thankful if he cut back. “Keith, it doesn’t matter what I think. You should cut back for yourself. You could get alcohol poisoning or a whole bunch of other diseases.”

“I guess…” Muttered Keith. He kind of looked… sad?

“... Are you okay?” Asked Lance quietly.

“It’s nothing.” Said Keith. “... Do you really think I could be better?”

“I think everyone can be better versions of themselves if they try.” Said Lance. The sun was starting to set and he could just start to see a few stars starting to come out. Once Keith was gone Lance was going to break out his humidifier and see if he could steam his sinuses so he could breathe out his nose again.

“I’ve never really been a good kid.” Said Keith quietly. “Always been the kind of guy that people like you hate...”

“People like me?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, religious… Always found it kind of ironic that you guys usually preach love for all with no acceptions… Just as long as you’re straight, don’t do sex work, don’t drink, conform to their very specific doctrine…” He smiled a little. “I just don’t conform like that. I have problems with authority.”

“I can tell.” 

“Yeah…”

Lance took a sip of his liquor and let it sit on his tongue for a moment. “Do you want to talk about it? What it was like growing up with parents in an outlaw biker gang? Must have been kind of tough.”

Keith chuckled and smiled. “Man, what’s there to say? It was difficult, but I liked it well enough. None of them pressured me to join the gang. Everyone said I should head out and do my own thing, and I did for a while… It was okay. My dad said I should try and find my place in the world. Find someone I could fall in love with.”

“Did you?” asked Lance. “Did you fall in love with someone?”

Keith was quiet for a moment. “Yes and no… I had lots of sex if that counts? But um, I… Love is kind of a strong word… I met someone and they were really cute. Like a cute kid.”

“... A kid?”

“Not like that!” Said Keith quickly. “Fuck, I’m not a pedophile! He was just a cute kid and you know how kids speak their minds without thinking? Kid said he liked me and wanted to marry me. It was kind of weird.”

Lance sighed. He remembered being younger and wanted to marry celebrities when he was a child. Hell, his sisters wanted to marry some football players when they were tweens. As far as Lance was concerned it was fine for kids to crush on adults, it was on the adults not to act on it.

“You didn’t act on it?”

“No. No once.” Said Keith. “Sometimes I do wonder about that kid… Like, do they still like men? Are they trans? Did they have a good home life? Do they have a girlfriend? … Would they still think I’m cool now?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe? I think you’re kind of cool”

Keith’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Well yeah? You have to admit there’s something cool about being in a biker gang.” Said Lance. “Even if you’re kind of… Well, not very law abiding… There is something nice about being out on the open road, no real laws to follow and what not… When you think about it, it’s a dream that everyone wants. The ability to go anywhere you want and do whatever you want… To not have to worry about anyone’s rules. Living by your own rules…” He sighed heavily. “Man, I wish I could do that.”

“You could.” Said Keith quietly. “You could just leave it all behind and come with me?”

Lance was surprised to hear Keith say that. He kind of expected Keith to laugh and say he was joking, but he looked dead serious. His seriousness made Lance laugh. “Oh man, can you even imagine it? The Pastor? Part of a biker gang? What’s next? I get a tattoo?”

“Why not?”

“It’s too crazy.” Said Lance. He still had huge responsibilities to the church and to the town. He had family and friends here. He couldn’t just pack it all in and go. It was crazy. Hell, even if he did go out and actually did that he doubted that he would even be able to join a biker gang like Mamora. He wasn’t like them.

“It isn’t crazy.” Said Keith. “Really. You could do it. It’s easy.”

“... Why are you so obsessed with me?”

Hearing that seemed to strike Keith hard. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a few seconds before he went bright red and looked away. “No reason…” He muttered. “I just… I like you is all… You’re… You’re just different and I like you… I like you a lot… But I get it, you don’t like me at all… I’m just forcing myself on you at this point…”

“Kind of are...” Muttered Lance. “Why don’t you hang around your friends in the gang?”

“Um… Well… If I’m honest a lot of the people there are assholes that either baby me because I’m the youngest.” Muttered Keith. He sighed and leaned against a post. “I get teased a lot and only really like hanging out with Shiro…”

“So you’re lonely?” Asked Lance.

“A little.” Admitted Keith. “But that’s just how it is. I can’t really change it. We move around a lot so I don’t really get to be around other people that aren’t part of the group much… So I guess I get a bit intense sometimes… I’m just used to the things I like leaving me so I just over do everything. I don’t have time to take things slowly. I see someone or something I like and I… I’m sorry for bothering you so much.”

“... You’re starting to get all emotional there Keith. Maybe you should think about heading back there to the motel?”

“... Yeah. I think you’re right. Sorry.” Keith got up and left the bottle of liquor behind. “I’ll um… I’ll stop bothering you…” He wandered away down the street towards the motel.

Lance wondered if he should have asked if he wanted a lift back to the motel. But Keith didn’t seem too smashed, so it wouldn’t be too bad, right? He sighed and went back inside. Time for him to find the humidifier. 

***

Keith felt like shit. He knew he was still producing pheromones, but Lance was still immune. Nothing was working and Keith wasn’t very good at trying to woo anyone without the aid of his succubus charms. That just left him feeling miserable and inadequate. He couldn’t believe he opened up so much to Lance and didn’t get anywhere.

And to top it all off he failed again. He didn’t bed Lance and claim him as his bride. He knew everyone was starting to get restless and wanted to move on, but they were here because of him. Which made him feel guilty. 

Whatever divine protection Lance was under was too strong for him to break. Keith knew he wasn’t a very powerful demon. But he thought for sure that he’d be able to take Lance since they had promised themselves to each other. Apparently not. Maybe he was just too young? Too weak?

When he got back to the motel he knew that Krolia would want to know how things went. Hell, he knew everyone would want to know how it went. He could already see other members of the gang looking at him and smirking at his obvious failure.

He went to the room that Kolivan seemed to like staying in. Keith was about to knock on the door when he heard Kolivan talking with Krolia and Shiro… About him.

“If he didn’t bed Lance tonight then there is something wrong with him.” Said Krolia. “He’s far more like his father than we thought… We just assumed he was more succubus since he could make a stinger.”

“We can’t stay here for too much longer.” Said Kolivan. “I was generous saying we would stay here a month, but now… Everyone wants to go.”

“Come on.” Said Shiro. “You said a month. Let Keith keep trying. It can be difficult to get a bride. It took me a year before Adam agreed to be my bride.”

“We still need to get moving.” Said Kolivan. “... If he wants to keep pursuing Lance then we will just leave him behind.”

“WHAT?!” Cried both Shiro and Krolia. 

“I can’t put Keith first just because he’s the youngest.” Said Kolivan sternly. “He is trying to get a Pastor to be his bride. This is stupid. He dug this hole himself. He has to deal with the consequences. He can’t think we’re always going to pick up his slack. He’s not a child anymore. He’s an adult. He needs to start acting like one.”

Keith felt his stomach drop. Kolivan wanted him gone because he couldn’t bed Lance? He felt like a complete failure as a demon. He didn’t want to be there and get yelled at for being a pathetic, useless, stupid demon. He knew he was terrible at this, but he was trying.

He quickly left the motel and walked down the street. Maybe he could just fake it and say he went on a date with Lance so they would think he’s making some progress? He’d probably end up sleeping in the graveyard to try and clear his head and brainstorm some ideas. However, he couldn’t help but feel like anything he tried would end in failure. He rubbed his eyes a little to try and stop himself from crying, but he still felt a few slip out.

When he looked up again he was back on Lance’s street. He could see his house. The lights were still on. Maybe Lance would let him crash in his garden if he asked nice enough? He doubted Lance would let him into his house since he didn’t before. Also, there were so many religious artifacts in his house it gave him a terrible headache.

Keith walked up to the front door and nervously knocked. A minute later Lance opened up the front door. He looked surprised and then very concerned. “Keith? Are you okay? Did something happen?”

“... I don’t want to go back to the motel tonight.” He said quietly as he tried to keep his voice steady. “Some things happened and… Can I just sleep on your lawn?”

“What?”

“I know you don’t want me in your house.” Said Keith quickly. “I just want to sleep somewhere where I don’t have to worry about someone throwing a can or bottle at me to get me to move or wake up.”

Lance looked horrified. “What?! No, you don’t have to sleep on the lawn, you can come inside. I have a fold out couch.”

“... You’re really letting me inside?”

“Yeah. Like I’d let you get assaulted by people that are meant to be your friends.” Said Lance. “Or like, your family? Wouldn’t Krolia be pissed off if someone hit you? She’s your mother.”

“... I’d rather not talk about it.”

Lance sighed a little and brought Keith in. He sat him down on the couch and told him to wait there. Keith did as he was told but just felt even more miserable. All that religious paraphernalia was already giving him a headache.

When Lance came back he had some weird sweet drink in his hands and gave it to him. “Here. Drink this.” He said. “It’s hot chocolate… Are you okay?”

Keith shrugged and took a sip of his drink. It was really sweet and tasted nice. “... Do you ever feel like a failure?” He asked quietly. “Sometimes I just feel like… Like… Like nothing you do will ever be good enough and you just want to give up?”

“... Is this about the thing you want to find in town?” Asked Lance. “Shiro said you were after something here in town. I can help you find it… Maybe… I’ll do my best.”

Keith shrugged and sipped his drink. “It doesn’t matter anymore… Maybe I should just give up? Kolivan wants to move on and I… I don’t want them to leave me behind. Should I just give up and just move on?”

Lance looked a little uncomfortable. Clearly he didn’t want to hear his problems, which made Keith feel even more guilty. Lance hated him. He didn’t like him. Keith should have just gone to the graveyard.

“I’m sorry…” Muttered Keith. “You don’t have to answer… I’m just a stupid kid…”

“Keith, you aren’t stupid.” Said Lance quietly. “You’re just… If you want to find this thing really badly, then don’t give up. It must be really important to you, right? So please do your best. You’ll be able to figure out what is best for you.”

“Okay… Thanks for the drink. It’s really sweet. I haven’t had this before.”

“Really? You haven’t had hot chocolate before?”

Keith shook his head. “No… It wasn’t something my family bought.”

“Oh… Um, the kitchen is over there and the bathroom is down the hall to the right.” Said Lance as he stood up. “Do you want me to get you some more pillows? A blanket?”

“That would be nice… Thanks… You’re too kind to me.” Said Keith quietly. “I… I really don’t deserve you being nice to me.”

Lance just smiled at him and shrugged. “Everyone deserves kindness. Even the people that don’t think they deserve it. Keith, you’re not a very nice guy. You’re rude, abrasive, grab people… But you’re a good person. Deep down inside. I want to help people in need. You’re in need so I want to help you.”

Keith could feel his heart race in his chest when he saw Lance smiling at him. “... Too nice.”

The Pastor just smiled at him and patted his back. “Just pull the couch out when you want to sleep. I’ll be back with the blanket and pillows.”

After Lance dropped off those things the Pastor retired to his room and Keith was left alone. He quickly took to turning everything around that looked religious in general to try and alleviate his headache. It kind of worked. He could have gone and tried to do the dream thing to Lance again, but he felt too tired and was too miserable. He just kicked off his shoes and curled up on the couch. Didn’t even bother pulling the couch out either.

Keith just wanted to wallow in his own misery. For the first time in a long time Keith had some time to reflect on his actions. Lance was too good for him. He was a Pastor and Keith was gutter trash. He was just some stupid demon that couldn’t even claim his bride.

He took off his glove and looked down at the matching scar on his ring finger. Keith had been genuinely excited to see Lance all grown up. He had always said he didn’t care what Lance looked like or what he had done with his life. Lance was his bride and he was going to love him no matter what… He just didn’t expect Lance to be so much better and holier than he was. If he was honest, he was scared that Lance would completely reject him when he found out the truth about why he was here.

Keith hugged his pillow close and tried very hard not to cry too much at how horrible and pathetic he was. He was a failure as a demon. He didn’t think Lance would ever love him in any way other than the superficial “love thy neighbour” kind of way. Maybe he should just give up on Lance? Move on? Find someone else that isn’t so heavily related to religion? He didn’t want to, but nothing was changing. He didn’t want to get left behind if he knew Lance was too good to fall for him. 

***

Lance’s heart was beating in his chest like crazy. He let Keith into his house. He actually let Keith in. Why? How? Did all his self preservation get thrown to the wind? This was the guy that grabbed him in his car… but he was also the guy that admitted he was lonely and was getting abused by the people he was closest to.

Normally Lance would have called the shelter for battered women, but there were two problems with that, the closest shelter was in the next town over and it was a women’s shelter. The only men they took in were children accompanied by their parents. They wouldn’t take Keith in even if he was begging for help. The world really needed to start acknowledging that men are victims of domestic abuse too.

Maybe that’s why Keith was so attached to him? Because Lance was completely the opposite to his family? He was kind, gentle, and when he said no to Keith he didn’t follow it up with a bottle to his head? Lance quickly shook his head at those thoughts. He didn’t want to assume anything. He wasn’t a psychiatrist.

He’d just do what he thought was right. He would give Keith shelter for tonight and talk to him about his options tomorrow over breakfast, or after breakfast. Lance wanted Keith to be happy. Lance shook his head and quickly blew his nose before he went to bed. He could kind of breathe out his nose again.


	10. Moving in

The next day when Lance got up he found Keith sleeping right outside his bedroom door. It was… Kind of weird. He lightly nudged his house guest with his foot. “Keith? Are you okay?”

“Hmm?” Mumbled Keith sleepily as he sat up. “Oh, is it morning?”

“Yeah…”

“... I should head back.” 

He sat up and Lance quickly put his hand on his shoulder. “No, wait… Breakfast first.” He still wanted to talk to Keith about the toxic environment he was living in. He needed to at least try and get Keith out of there. Under all the bravado and awkwardness, Keith was actually kind of sweet.

Keith actually seemed surprised. “You’re not kicking me out?”

“What? No. Why would I kick you out? Just go to the kitchen, okay?”

Keith nodded and headed to the kitchen. Lance sighed and quickly went to the bathroom before going to the kitchen. He found Keith turning one of the house's many crucifix’s upside down with a pair of tongs.

“Um…?”

Keith jumped and almost dropped the tongs. “S-sorry!”

Lance just took the tongs off him and made him sit down at the island countertop. Once Keith was seated, Lance started cooking bacon and eggs. Just something simple. He glanced over at Keith every once in a while. He seemed very interested in what he was doing, if not a little confused.

“Are you okay?” Asked Lance.

“Been a while since I’ve had someone cook me breakfast… Assuming you are cooking for me too…”

“Of course I am. How do you like your eggs?”

“Cooked.”

Lance chuckled. “I mean like, sunny side, hard yolk, scrambled, what?”

“Oh… Um… I’m not fussy. I’ll have them however you have them.”

“Okay, sunny side it is.” When Lance was done cooking he served it up to Keith and the many happily ate. He ate like a starving man that hadn’t been fed in years. He’d probably want seconds or thirds… Maybe fourths? Lance would need to get more eggs. “Glad you like your breakfast.”

“Yeah. It’s really good.” Said Keith as he stabbed at his bacon. “It feels like a lifetime since I’ve had bacon.”

“I can cook you some more if you want?”

Keith paused for a second before he continued to eat. “Nah, this is fine… I’m happy enough just getting a plate of something. So much better than eating half a bag of chips or taking a bag of jerky off of someone when they aren’t looking.”

“Yeah… I kind of wanted to talk to you about that…”

“Stealing jerky?”

“No, the people you are hanging out with.” Said Lance quietly. “I… I don’t think they are good for you. The way you talk about them, they don’t seem to really care about you… I can help you leave them if you like?”

Keith gave him a confused look. “Leave them? Why would I want to leave?”

“You said that you only get along with Shiro.” Said Lance. “And you said they throw stuff at you.”

“To be fair that’s only the drunk ones.”

“Still, you should be getting abused like that.” Said Lance. “Admittedly, the resources for a man when it comes to domestic violence is laughable, especially in small towns… But I’ll do what I can to help you.” He reached across the countertop and held Keith’s hand. “Keith… I really want to help you. Please let me help you.”

Keith seemed really shocked that Lance would say that, or even hold his hand. “Lance… You’re really too kind to me. I’m not… It isn’t what it seems. Yeah, we aren’t good people, but we aren’t bad people… Mostly… Regris is still a dick. We just drink a lot and some of us do drugs. The people I’m with are fine. They are nice enough…”

“Keith… You don’t need to defend them just because your parents are part of that group or because you grew up around them… You can stay with me... They aren’t going to burn down the church because you’re staying with me, are they?”

“Well, no, but what?” Keith looked so confused. “You want me to stay with you? Why? I thought you didn’t like me that much…”

“Dude, you’re in trouble. I’m not going to turn anyone away that comes to me when they are in trouble.” Said Lance. “Even if I hated you I’d still help you out of an abusive situation.”

“... Oh.” Keith looked very confused and kind of conflicted. “They um… They are going to leave town soon… Is it really okay for me to stay with you? If it’s too much trouble I’ll just camp out in the backyard or something…”

Lance shook his head. “No. You can stay here. In the house. On the fold out mattress. Not in front of my bedroom door.”

Keith went red. He was clearly embarrassed about this. “... S-sorry about that… I’m not used to sleeping alone… Since we usually have to share some rooms I’m used to hearing people snore or walking around… It um… It’s kind of unsettling to be in a silent room. I didn’t want to freak you out by trying to sleep on the floor of your room, so I just… Sorry… It made me feel a little better… Your house is really quiet at night.”

“... Oh.”

“... Sorry, I know it’s creepy…” Said Keith quietly. “I’ll stop…”

Lance sighed a little and went about cleaning up their plates. “We can work on that… Go and get your stuff and come back here. I do have a spare room, but there isn’t a bed in there. Just a mattress up against the wall and some boxes all over the place. That room is yours if you really, really need it.”

Keith looked like a puppy that had been offered a treat. “O-okay! I’ll go and do that now.” He got up and practically ran out of the door. It was almost comical, but it was kind of sad how excited Keith was to get away from them. They must have really treated Keith badly. He got up and went to clean up the spare room.

***

Keith was over the moon. Lance wanted him to stay, and all he really did was tell Lance the truth about his life. Lance loved him, well, love was a strong word, but he trusted him enough to stay long term in his house. He didn’t care if the gang moved onto the next town. He had Lance.

When he got back to the motel he found Kolivan and Antok sweeping up some broken glass. They saw him and waved him over. “Keith, we have something to tell you It’s very important.”

“Me first.” Said Keith. “I’m moving in with Lance.” The two demons were shocked. They clearly didn’t expect that from the demon. “So I’m just going to say my goodbyes, grab my stuff and head over.”

“Seriously?” Asked Antok. “He wasn’t joking or being sarcastic?”

“Nope. He meant it.”

“Well, that is a good development.” Said Kolivan “So… We are actually going to head off at sunrise tomorrow. I guess you can start saying your goodbyes now?”

“I will. Thanks for being understanding.” Keith went around telling everyone else that he’s going to head off. Everyone was a little surprised that Keith was staying, but they were happy for him. 

Shiro seemed to take it the hardest. Shiro was like his big brother. He hugged Keith tightly. “Keith… You be careful, okay? Lance is still a Pastor. If he tries, he can hurt you.”

“I’ll be fine. Really… Where’s Krolia?”

“On the roof.”

“Right… I’ll go and talk to her.” He got onto the roof and found her. She was just sitting on the edge, humming to herself. “Hey…”

She looked over at him and nodded. “Hey. So, you didn’t come back last night. Did you finally bed him?”

“Well no, but Lance wants me to stay with him. Like, stay in his house. It’s a good step closer to him, yeah?”

Krolia chuckled. “Yeah. It is good. So you aren’t coming with us?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, are you mad at me?”

“No, not at all. You want your bride, then you can do it. I’m proud of you.” She said. “Though, I am a little concerned about your choice… If this is what you want, then your father and I will support you. We’d also like to meet your bride when you finally bed them.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but was grinning. “Don’t worry. I will. Thanks for being understanding.”

She smiled and hugged him. “No problem. Now you get your shit together and get back to your bride’s home. Be a good little demon and bed that bride.”

“I will.” Said Keith as he hugged back. “Tell dad I’ll be back soon.”

‘I will. Have fun winning over your bride.”

“I will.” Keith happily got off the roof and quickly gathered his things. Once he was sure he had all of his stuff, he got on his bike and headed back to Lance’s place. 

Lance greeted him and quickly welcomed him back into the house. He had cleared the extra room and stuck a lot of boxes in a corner. There was a mattress on the ground that was set up like a bed with bed sheets and a pillow. Surprisingly the faciest floor mattress Keith had ever seen.

“Look, it’s not much…” Admitted Lance. “But it’s a start. I can order you a new bed frame.”

“It’s okay. I like it.” He happily placed his duffle bag on the ground and sat on the mattress. He really liked this room since it was the only place that didn’t have religious stuff all over the walls. So he wasn’t going to get a massive headache. He was so happy. “This is way nicer than most of the places I’ve slept in.”

Lance smiled a little and sighed. “Okay, so, are they going to try and find you?”

Keith shook his head and looked through his bag, taking out a spare pair of boots and put them next to his bed. “Nah, the guys were kind of surprised, but they understood. Krolia just told me to come back home some time to spend time with the family. That’s all.”

Lance seemed very surprised to hear that. “Huh? Alright… Um, I guess now that you’re here, we have to set a few ground rules… And like, we should get to know each other a bit more. Right?”

Keith nodded happily. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

“Okay, can you cook? Allergic to anything? Gluten allergies? Peanut?”

“I’m lactose intolerant.” Said Keith. “And I can kind of cook. Nothing very fancy, but the hose won’t burn down.”

“Okay. That’s good… Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“There are a few conditions of staying here.” Said Lance calmly. “Firstly, you need to be able to clean up after yourself.”

“Okay. Can do.”

“You need to cut back on your drinking and maybe think about attending A.A meetings.”

“... Okay?”

“You’ll also need to get a job. If you have trouble I have some sway with a few places. I’ll probably be able to get you a job at the second hand store.”

“What?”

“Hey, you need to get a job if you want to stay here.” Said Lance. “You need to be able to pay for your own things eventually. I’m here to help you get back on their own feet. Yeah?”

“Oh… Okay.”

“Good.” Lance smiled happily at him. “Okay, so I need to go and run some errands at the church… Are you going to be okay alone for a while?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. I’m just going to settle in.”

“Okay. Good. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Okay, um Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for doing this to me.”

Lance smiled kindly at him. Hell, Keith could feel the kindness radiating off on the Pastor. “No problem. I already told you that I wanted to help you.” With that Lance quickly left and Keith was all alone.

Once he was alone, Keith let his demonic form manifest. He flopped onto the mattress, grabbed the pillow, wrapped his wings around himself and started to giggle. This was amazing. This was almost as good as bedding Lance and making him his bride. At least now he could take his time. Lance was so nice to him.


	11. Domestic

Living with the Pastor was very… strange. Keith mostly stayed in his room, not too sure what to do. His room was a little dusty, so he did occupy himself a little by doing some dusting with an extra shirt he had in his bag. He wondered if Lance would like it if he cleaned the rest of the house too, but when he left the room and attempted to do some dusting, Lance seemed kind of horrified that Keith was using a shirt.

Then there was the A.A meeting… Keith didn’t know what to expect but he sure as hell wasn’t expecting a bunch of sad and depressed humans with problems with alcohol. It was kind of shocking how badly humans got messed up if they drank too much. Now he could understand why Lance thought he had a problem. Though alcohol was like water to a demon. He wasn’t going to get the same illnesses as humans would from drinking all day every day. It was awkward.

Also, Lance got him a part time job at some good will place that sold second hand stuff. This was even more awkward for Keith. He had to wear a uniform and an apron. He didn’t like it. But it made Lance grin and the little old lady who ran the shop was very happy to have a strong young man helping her out a few days a week.

So there Keith was, writing out price tags and sticking them on jackets. This really wasn’t what Keith was expecting when he moved in with Lance and agreed to his house rules. He thought that he’d learn a little more about Lance, seduce him, and fuck him within a week. It didn’t really work too well.

“Are you almost done?” Asked the older woman in her feathery soft voice.

“Yeah, almost.” Said Keith. “Just three more to write up.”

“Very good.” She said. “When you’re done, can you please put the jackets up and help put the soft toys in the toy bins please?”

“Sure.” Keith put the last tags on the jackets, hung them up on the rack, and then went to put the soft toys away. All soft toys were washed thoroughly before they were put out. They smelled kind of floral. Keith liked it. Smelled similar to his clothes after Lance washed them. It was comforting.

He tipped the box of soft toys into the bin. Most of them were bears, some rabbits and a few horse looking things. Something purple bounced out of it and landed by his feet. Keith picked up the toy and smiled a little at it. It was some purple hippo. It was missing an eye, but it had some goofy smile on its face. Keith liked hippos. They are cute, and could rip your body apart in a split second.

The bell chimed as the front door opened and Lance walked in. He usually came over when Keith’s shift ended so they could go home together. Keith kind of thought that Lance was doing it to make sure he wasn’t going to the pub after work. Not that he minded too much. He was just happy to spend time with the young pastor.

He smiled and walked over to Keith. “Hey man. How’s work going?”

“It’s okay. How was your day?”

“Not too bad. Been busy getting these flyers out.” He showed Keith a blue flyer promoting a bake sale at the church.

“... A bake sale?”

“Yeah. Just need to put a little bit of money into the church’s savings.” Said Lance. “With less people coming in and giving tithings, it’s easier for us to do little fundraiser events. I just want enough money to make sure that the roof or lights can be fixed if something happens. As it stands there isn’t much left… But this is good. Who doesn’t love a bake sale?”

“Huh, alright… Would you like me to help?” Asked Keith. If he helped Lance, then Lance would like him more, right?

“You don’t have to.” Said Lance. “You’re already doing enough to better your life. You don’t need to make yourself volunteer if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.” Said Keith. “I um… I haven’t really done much in the way of selling stuff so… But I can help! I know I can!”

Lance was a little surprised but smiled. “I appreciate your enthusiasm. Okay, I’ll see what stall I can put you in charge of. We should get a bunch of cookie and cake donations on either Friday evening or Saturday morning when we’re setting everything up.”

“I can build things.” Said Keith. “I can do it.” Maybe if he could prove himself to Lance then maybe he would like him more? He really hoped that Lance would like him more.

***

While Lance did appreciate Keith’s enthusiasm, he did wonder if Keith was a little too enthusiastic. He pretty much went along with everything that Lace had asked of him. It made him feel a little concerned about what people used to do when he was in that biker gang. They probably made him do a lot of things to make him feel like he was fitting in. He didn’t want Keith to feel like he wasn’t fitting in.

Lance noticed that Keith was a people pleaser. Especially when it came to him. He’d ask Keith to do one thing and Keith would attempt to go above and beyond. Hell, he suggested Keith could clean up his room a little and Keith attempted to dust the whole house with a shirt. One of the two shirts he owned. Lance had to buy him a shirt for work for crying out loud. 

Keith wanting to help was fine, but he wanted Keith to do it. Not because he mentioned it. Keith was acting like such a puppy. If he had a tail it would probably be wagging right now. It was kind of cute, but it still made Lance worry.

Like right now, Lance was making dinner and he asked Keith to set the table. Keith didn’t just put out plates and cutlery. He actually got out a vase and stuck a fake flower in it. He looked very, very pleased with himself as he sat down at the table. However he quickly started glaring at the crucifix on the wall by the fridge.

“You know, you don’t have to do so much just for dinner.” Said Lance. “Almost feels like you’re taking me on a date.”

“... Would that be such a bad thing?”

“Keith…”

“I’m joking.” Said Keith quickly. “I’m joking… I know you…” He sighed. “That you don’t like me at all like that…”

“Yeah…” Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. This was another thing that was bugging him a little about having Keith living with him. Keith had expressed his obvious interest in Lance. He had toned it down a lot since they had moved in, but he would drop comments like this at least one a day. Lance would always rebuke him, and then Keith looked like someone had just yelled at him, like some puppy that pissed on the rug. 

It was going to be tough for Lance to help Keith settle down here. There weren’t many gay people in town. Those that Lance knew were gay were either married and colsited, or underage and closited. Keith might be more comfortable living in a city where he would have a better chance of finding lovers and maybe better work? Lance wasn’t too sure.”

“So, what food are we going to sell at the bake sale?” Asked Keith.

“Oh, just the usual baking stuff.” Said Lance as he put some pasta on their plates. “Cookies, cakes, cupcakes, brownies. That kind of stuff.”

Keith nodded a little as he swirled his pasta around his fork. “Okay… I can sell some cookies…”

“You really want to help out?”

“Yes… I want to help you.” Said Keith quietly. “You’ve done a lot for me… You’re letting me stay here with you, you gave me a room, helped me get a job, trying to help me with um… my alcohol addiction… I want to pull my weight. When I was with the gang, we all had to pull our weight somehow. Like, I used to shake people down, cook meth, sell whatever Ulaz or Thace gave me, slit a few throats… But I didn’t think you would be very happy about me doing any of that stuff…”

“... Yes. You can cook meth?”

“It’s not that difficult.” Said Keith. “You just need to know how much of everything you need to mix together so it doesn’t blow up in your face… Though we did end up blowing up a few shacks in our efforts to cook it.”

Lance almost dropped his fork. “Keith! That’s so dangerous!”

“Hey, Ulaz was the one that blew up the shack.” Said Keith. “Kolivan wasn’t happy with his shit either… When the shack blew up he blew up a barrel of whisky that Kolivan bought. So Kolivan beat his ass with a plank from the broken shack.”

“... Right.”

Keith shrugged. “It is what it is… But I um… I do like being here more than being there… Are you okay with me being here? Do you want me to move out?”

“What?”

“Well, I’m kind of used to moving around, so I wouldn’t be upset if you wanted me to move out. I mean, it has been almost a week.” Said Keith. “I can just pack my stuff and go…”

“You don’t have to move out.” Said Lance. “I am fine with you still being around. You still need help. It’s just been about a week. You’re nowhere near ready to live on your own… I still can’t believe you cooked meth…”

“I’m good at alchemy.”

“Alchemy?”

“... It sounds cooler than chemistry…”

“Right…” Lance ate some more pasta and thought for a moment. “So… Um so apart from chemistry and aggressive business skills, are you good at anything else?”

“Bike mechanics and whoring.”

Lance almost choked on a piece of pasta. “W-what?”

Keith shrugged. “Sex isn’t something shameful to be hidden away. It’s a natural desire and if it was less stigmatized then there would be less problems concerning it. Plus I like sex. It feels good and it’s fun.”

“Right…” Lance nodded slowly and looked down at his food. “And of course everything revolved back to sex with Keith. Innuendos and sex. That’s all that seemed to run around in Keith’s head. “I mean like, do you like drawing?”

Keith thought for a moment and slowly started to sink down in his chair. “Oh… I um… I haven’t really thought that much about that before… Not really much else to do besides move from place to place and just kind of exist? … Do I like anything?” He asked no one in particular.

“Well, that’s something you can figure out now.” Said Lance. “You have the time to figure out what you like. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah… After the bake sale?”

“After the bake sale.”

Keith smiled a little and continued to eat. “... Um… So you need to bake things to make stuff for the bake sale, right?”

“Yep. Why?”

“... Can you teach me how to bake?” Asked Keith quietly. “I… I never really got taught how to cook anything…”

“Except meth?”

“Except meth.”

“Sure. I was going to make some cookies tomorrow anyway. Should be fun.”

Keith smiled a little. “Sounds like fun.”

“Yeah…” Lance looked up at Keith and frowned slightly. The man genuinely seemed happy about being able to do something with him. Anything with him. He seemed to have been neglected as a kid or something. Lance really didn’t want to make assumptions based off of how he acts and his interaction with Krolia. “So… You said you grew up mostly with your dad? How was that?” 

“My dad was pretty cool with me growing up.” Said Keith with a grin.” As soon as I could sit up and not shove things up my nose he had me helping him in his workshop. Granted I used to just hold a hammer or lump of wood for him… He tried to give me as normal a life as possible… Did kind of get pissed at me for getting on the roof once and kicking the ladder away.”

“Huh, alright.” Keith seemed to be a troublemaker when he was a kid.

“Yeah… I should probably go and see him soon.” Said Keith. “He was upset that he couldn’t go on the ride this time because of his hip. But that’s fine… What about your family?”

“What about them?”

Keith shrugged. “Are they doing well?”

Lance nodded. “Everyone is doing fine. The family is coming here for Christmas this year. We try to rotate who is hosting each year. I’ll still need to do the Christmas service, but it’s whatever.”

Keith nodded. “I see… So, this means I’ll need to leave?”

“No… I don’t think so.” Said Lance calmly. “Just… It’s over half a year away. We’ll get there when we get there. Until then… tomorrow we make cookies?”

Keith smiled brightly at him. It was almost child-like in the way he acted at times. It was kind of cute, but at the same time Lance still worried for him. He was still really childish. Lance needed to figure out how to help Keith in a constructive way. Baking and helping at the bake sale might actually be good for him?


	12. Bake sale

Keith kind of felt like Lance was taking the piss out of him. The food stall he was helping out was selling angel food cake and devil’s food cake. For some reason the little old lady he was with thought it would be a fun idea to make it a competition to see who could sell the most cake. So Keith was stuck selling devil’s food cake.

He didn’t see how this could be devil’s food cake. It was just a dense chocolate cake. There was not a bit of alcohol or weed in them. This was ridiculous. Stupid humans. At least the angel food cake was made from a very airy sponge cake, and as far as he could tell, it wasn’t made with alcohol… He could smell the rum cake a few stalls down though. Now that was devil’s food cake.

People came and went, buying cakes from people and happily eating as they walked by. It was interesting to see such a blatant display of gluttony. Not one of Keith’s typical sins that he dabbled in, but it was still interesting nonetheless.

Around midday Lance came walking by with two styrofoam cups of tea. “Hi Mrs Grant. I’m going by and passing tea out for everyone before I go and get some lunch for everyone. Would you like an Earl grey tea?”

“Oh yes please.” She said as she happily took the cup. “You’re a god send Pastor.”

“Aw, think nothing of it.” Lance looked at Keith and flashed that smile that made Keith start to feel weak in the knees. “You want a tea too?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Keith took the tea and sipped it. He hadn’t really had tea before. It was kind of weird.

“Cool. I’m going to get the sandwiches.”

“Do you want help?” Asked Keith. “I can help you hand stuff out and it can get done twice as fast.”

Lance looked over at Mrs Grant. “Would you mind if I borrow him for a few minutes?”

“Go ahead Pastor. My angel food cake is winning anyway.” She said with a wink.

“I’d hope so.” Said Lance. He gestured for Keith to follow him. Which Keith happily did. He followed Lance into the little office in the back of the church where Lance had some coolers to keep some of the cakes and sandwiches for the volunteers fresh. Lance happily looked through the coolers for lunch. “How do you like the bake sale?”

“It’s interesting.” Said Keith. “I never really thought that I’d be involved in one of these things… Thanks for trusting me enough to do this…”

Lance seemed a little surprised before he smiled at him. “Keith, why wouldn’t I trust you? Sure you’re a little weird, but I don’t think you would steal. I mean, you haven’t robbed me and run away.”

Keith blushed slightly and he quickly looked away. “Oh… Well it’s probably really bad luck to rob a Pastor…”

“Eh, probably. Here take this.” He handed Keith a box. Keith might have placed his hands on top of Lance’s, just so he could have a little bit of skin contact with him. He might have lingered a little longer than he should have over the scar on Lance’s ring finger, but it was worth it in his mind. Lance was the first to pull away. “So remember, people have a choice between ham and cheese or egg salad. I have the vegan one and a few vegetarian ones for the volunteers that asked for them. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Keith went about distributing sandwiches to the volunteers. Every now and then he would look around to see if Lance was around. The Pastor looked happy as he talked to the older people and some of the younger mums. 

When he did that, Keith could feel a small ball of jealousy slowly starting to build up deep within his guts. Lance was his bride, but he couldn’t win Lance over. If he was a proper succubus he would have been able to change his sex so he could be female and maybe Lance would feel like it was less blasphemous… But he wasn’t one, so he couldn’t.

He ended up back at his stall trying to sell devil’s food cake while nibbling on a ham and cheese sandwich. He still watched Lance mingling with everyone and helping out anyone’s stall when they ducked out to go to the bathroom or something. He wanted Lance to come over and help him. Once again in his many weeks he felt completely useless.

Eventually the bake sale wrapped up around 3 in the afternoon. Lance went about collecting the money and Keith helped by taking the stalls apart. Most of it was just folding tables so it was pretty easy.

Once he was done and most people left, Keith went into the back office to see Lance crouched behind his desk. “... What are you doing?” He asked.

Lance quickly looked up, looking kind of surprised. “Keith! I was just putting the money away in a safe so I can take it to the bank tomorrow. I think we have enough for a new roof and some left over for new bibles or if we need to replace some folding chairs.”

Keith smiled a little. “That’s nice. I’m glad this worked out.”

“Me too… Oh, did you go out and buy anything from the stalls?”

“... No? Was I meant to?” Asked Keith. He was a little confused.

Lance seemed a little surprised. “Keith, you were allowed to buy stuff…” He lifted up a cooler and opened it up, taking out a cupcake with a strawberry on it. “I bought some stuff I thought the two of us might like to eat together. So here. Thanks for helping out today.”

Now Keith was surprised. He took the cupcake and smiled at him. “Thank you. What kind of cupcake is it?”

“Red velvet strawberry cupcake.” Said Lance. “Hunk had someone cancel an order so he donated them. Go ahead. Eat it.”

Keith smiled and took a bite. He hadn’t had red velvet anything before, but he really, really liked it. He happily ate it while Lance finished up in the office.

When he was done cleaning, he smiled at Keith. “So want to get dinner tonight? I don’t feel like cooking.”

“I can cook.”

“Burning everything black isn’t cooking.”

“... I am trying.”

Lance smiled and patted his shoulder. “How about this, we go home, put these cakes away, and go to the pub… I know you shouldn’t be around alcohol, but if we take a seat far away from the bar and just order some food it should be okay… It’s either that or the fish and chip place, and I don’t really feel like eating fish and chips…”

“We can go wherever you want.” Said Keith. “I don’t mind.”

***

So later that evening the two of them were in the pub. A lot of people seemed to be in high spirits this evening, which made Lance happy. He was pretty sure that everyone’s spirits might have been high because of the bake sale, but that might have been a little egotistical of him. Still he was happy.

Though Keith didn’t seem that happy to just be drinking a coke without any bourbon. He pulled a face and muttered something about it being too sweet. But apart from that, he seemed like he was happy. Keith was always happy when he ate with him. It made Lance wonder if Keith regularly ate dinner with someone, or if he was mostly eating alone.

Still, they happily ate dinner together. Keith looked so happy to eat every time he took a bite of his crumbed lamb cutlets. He looked so happy. It kind of melted his heart a little. Keith was kind of cute and it was very attractive… Lance had to clear his head of those thoughts.

“So um, how do you like the food here?” He asked 

Keith grinned. “Yeah, the food here is really good. I don’t eat much food so, I mean food like this. I don’t often eat food like this. It feels like you’re spoiling me.”

“I’m not trying to spoil you. I’m just treating you like a human.”

“... It’s nice.”

“I’d hope so.”

As they enjoyed their evening the pub door opened and a few weekend warriors walked in. They were clad in biker gear that looked a little too shiny and they didn’t have any distinctive patches. They were people that went out and went for a bike ride over the weekend. Like most groups of people they came in various degrees of tolerable. He saw Keith roll his eyes as he poked at his mashed potatoes.

“Not a fan?”

“Look, most of them are okay, but those guys? They look like douchebags.” Said Keith. “The kinds of assholes that will start some shit once they get a bit too fucking tipsy. Keep an eye on them.”

“Fair enough.” Lance continued to drink as he thought about what he was going to do for his next sermon. He had most of his notes finalized, but he still needed to go over them… But his notes were on his desk… At the church… “Dang it…”

“Hmm?”

“I left my sermon notes at the church…”

Keith shrugged. “Let’s just swing by there before we head home. No big deal.”

“True…”

“Yeah… Your drink is almost empty. Want me to get you a new one?” Asked Keith.

“Yeah, sure.” Said Lance. “Oh! Should you be going up to a bar?”

“Relax. I’m just going to get you a drink.” Keith got up and headed to the bar.

Lance sighed a little and went back to eating his food. Spending time with Keith was nice. Sure he worried him a lot, but Keith was really kind and sweet. He wanted Keith to be happy and being with him kind of made him happy. He loved seeing Keith’s eyes light up when they ate together, or when he learned to do domestic things like cleaning the house or cooking. He was so sweet and kind under all of that gruff and rugged exterior.

“Hey! Watch it asshole.” Snapped one of the weekend warriors.

“You’re the one that walked into me dick head.” Snapped Keith.

Lance quickly looked over at the bar to see one of the weekend warriors standing with some beer spilled on his shirt. He looked pissed and Keith looked indifferent. “Listen here you little shit.” Growled the man. “You bumped into me. You watch where you’re fucking going or I’ll break your fucking teeth in.”

Keith laughed at him. “What? You’ll break my teeth in? I’d like to see you try. You punk ass little bitch. I’ve taken shits more intimidating than you.”

Lance quickly got up and attempted to defuse the situation. “Hey, let’s all just calm down here… No need to get violent.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Growled the man. “This guys faggy boyfriend?” That earned a chuckle from the man’s friends. Everyone else in the bar paused in shock that someone would have the audacity to say that to Lance.

Keith growled back, like, legitimately growled at the man and loomed over him. “That fag, as you just called him is the town Pastor. You cunt. How dare you speak in such a disrespectful way to him. Get the fuck out.”

The tension was high in the bar, but the man doubled down on his douchebag behaviour. “You made we’re shit talking your boyfriend? Gonna cry about it? Well you got the long hair. You must be the girl in this relationship. Gonna get dicked down and-”

Keith snatched the beer out of the man’s hand. Without breaking eye contact, he poured the beer into the sink behind the bar. “You’re cut off. Get the fuck out.”

“Hey! You can’t do that!”

The bartender rolled their eyes. “They might not, but I can. You and your friends can get the fuck out of here before I call the cops.”

“Yeah, you better get the fuck out.” Growled Keith. He leaned in and whispered something into the man’s ear and the weekend warrior and his friends quickly left. After a few minutes everything calmed down and Keith tried to make sure that Lance was okay.

Lance was more worried about Keith. “Are you okay?” Asked Lance.

“Me? What about you? They called you some pretty horrible names.”

“Yeah, but you…”

Keith smiled a little at him. “It’s okay… Listen, I’ll meet you at the church. I need to go for a walk. Clear my head…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Lance didn’t like it, but he felt that he should just let Keith do what he wanted. He wasn’t sure how to handle Keith when he got frustrated like this. He ended up heading back to the church and looked over his sermon notes. He quickly became engrossed with his sermon and completely forgot about waiting for Keith. Making a sermon about loving thy neighbour was really engrossing.

That was until he heard the church doors open with some force. Lance jumped a little in surprise and looked out of his office door just in time to see someone slip into the confession booth. He quickly became uneasy.

“H-hello? Is someone there?” He asked.

When Lance didn’t get a response he cautiously approached the confessional. The booth was made of simple wood but carved in an ornate pattern, it looked rather foreboding and ominous. Lance had never really liked it, but he understood it was part of his religion. Steeling up his courage, Lance entered his side of the booth and took his seat.

“Hello?” Said Lance in a calm voice, trying to go into pastor mode. “Do you wish to confess my child?”

The person was quiet for a few moments before he coughed. “Forgive me father for I have sinned.”

It was Keith’s voice, but Keith sounded extremely tired. Lance gulped and tried to keep being professional. “It is okay my child… No matter what you’ve done the Lord will forgive you.”

Keith chuckled a little and pressed his head against the meshed partition that separated them. “Where to begin? I guess I should just start at the beginning?”


	13. Devil in the Church

When Keith was born, his first memories were of his father. A strong, but kind man. However, he was also vengeful and quickie to teach Keith the very valuable lesson, an eye for an eye. Then, if the crime permitted it, his old man was more than happy to tell him that he should double his revenge. If they broke one bone, he’d break more.

While not a good thing to teach a human child, demons didn’t care. They were brutal creatures and quickly drilled how fucked up the living world was. As soon as Keith was old enough to walk and hold a knife, his dad would take him everywhere with him. He was still young enough to lock his tail in a vice-like grip. So his father would often just have Keith attached to his arm or belt as he walked around their home deep in the forest.

Keith’s form was still very much demonic, but after a long time he was able to make himself look human. When that happened, his father happily sent him out to play with human children. Keith quickly found out that human children were easily breakable. It wasn’t his intent, but lots of his playmates had a tendency to stop moving after getting pushed out of a tree, or off a cliff. He didn’t really understand it.

He had asked his father a few times about why that happened. His father just shrugged and would go about doing what he was doing. “Humans are pretty fragile.” He would say; “You can’t play so roughly with them or they will die.” Or; “Well, you better put them back where you found them. I can’t fix them. Their parents will find them eventually.” Because of that, Keith and his family had moved around a lot. 

When Keith was a little older, his mother was taking care of him and happily introduced Keith to Kolivan and Antok. Slowly she would introduce him to the rest of the Mamora gang. They were nice enough and cooed over Keith. They all seemed to be enamoured with the demon baby, and were more than happy to take care of him when his parents needed some time to themselves.

Antok seemed to be one of the best people when it came to raining in Keith when he was young and throwing a tantrum. When Keith was in the middle of screaming at them, Antok would grab his tail and yank him high into the air. That would shit Keith up and he’d dangle limply in the air for a few solid minutes before Antok would put him down. Then he would be a lot quieter, if not a little moody.

Then in Keith’s teenage years, he met Shiro. Shiro was a lot closer to his age and acted a lot more like a brother to him. If he pushed Shiro out of a tree or off a cliff he didn’t stop moving like a human would. Shiro would hit the ground, climb back up, and throw him off. It was fun. Shiro was fun. Those days were fun and Keith cherished them.

Eventually Keith became a teenager and became interested in people again. They were so soft and delicate. It felt like if you breathed on them too hard them would wither away. Kind of like the flowers he would sometimes pick for his parents. They were pretty for a while, but they would eventually wither away and die.

It was around this time that Shiro introduced Keith to the concept of brides. Now, Keith wasn’t sheltered. He had lived with murderers and sadistic fucks that enjoyed causing pain on others for all his life. But the idea of a bride was odd to him.

“For our kind, a bride is the one person we will share everything with.” Said Shiro. “We can take many lovers in our life times, but our brides will always be the one that we will go through anything for. There is no pain that we won’t go through, even if we have to die for them… When you find your bride, you just know that it’s them. You’ll be able to tell them anything. You’ll love them forever and they will love you.”

Keith didn’t understand that. He was still quite young and he had very few people that he could consider that he loved. He loved his parents, he loved Shiro, and he loved his extended demon family. But he didn’t love anyone in the romantic sense.

Then one day Shiro showed up with a human called Adam and said that he was his bride. Everyone in the group was surprised, but happy enough to accept him. Adam didn’t really interact much with them for a few years. He kept looking away whenever one of them tried to look at him.

Keith was very curious about Adam and would often sneak up to him to see him. Keith didn’t understand why Shiro would want a human. They were fragile. Breakable. Simple. He had asked his parents why Shiro wanted a human as a bride.

Krolia just shrugged. “It’s more common than you would think. Keith, you’re part succubus and once you hit puberty you’ll fully appreciate what a human can do for you.”

“Maybe Adam is kinder than our kind?” Suggested his dad. “Love is love and as long as they love each other then there is no problem.”

Keith didn’t really understand it, but he kept hanging around Shiro and Adam. He’d poke Adam when he got close enough to him. Adam was a lot squishier than he expected. Adam wasn’t a huge fan of getting poked by the smaller demon.

Eventually Keith got older, was gifted his first bike, and was able to ride with the gang. His parents made it very clear that if he fucked up while they were out on the road, Kolivan was going to be the one to punish him, not them. They would talk to him if they thought the punishment was too much, but most of the time they would agree with Kolivan’s judgement.

He learned a lot of things from them. Apart from how to fix a bike with only a roll of duct tape and a shoelace, Keith learned how to interact with humans. Yeah, they were still soft and squishy, but he could handle them without hurting them. Well, he could control how much he could hurt them before they died. 

He actually learnt a lot about this from Regris. Regris was an asshole, but he was a sadistic fuck that prided himself on getting information out of people when Kolivan asked him to.He touched Keith where to hit and with what amount of force to use to get answers. It was pretty easy to do and pretty soon, if Kolivan needed some help and Regris wasn’t around, he’d get Keith to do it.

Keith had hurt a lot of people. Killed plenty too. No one in the group really batted an eye at it. The only one that seemed to have a problem with it was Adam. Not that Keith could blame him much. Humans were weird about that kind of stuff. Most of the people Keith killed were accidents anyway. Especially in his younger years.

“Why did you take a human as your bride?” Keith had asked Shiro one day. “You have to keep so much of yourself hidden from them.”

“I don’t hide anything from Adam.” Said Shiro. “Adam knows everything about me. He knows all the good things, and the bad.”

“Seriously?” Asked Keith in disbelief. “How?”

Shiro just shrugged. “You can’t have a good relationship with someone if you hide things from them. When you find someone and want them to be your bride, you need to be able to trust them with anything. I trust Adam with my life. You can’t treat your bride like a hookup. You have to lay your cards out on the table. They need to know who you are and what they are getting into. It’s cruel to trick a human into behind the bride of a demon.”

“What if they don’t like you?” Keith asked. “Everyone says that humans don’t like demons.”

“Not all humans. Adam likes me.” Said Shiro. “... That’s just the risk you have to take.”

***

Keith paused for a moment between punching the the teeth out of the man that dared to gall Lance a fag. He had taken care of the man’s friends too. One had hit him pretty hard in the head with a pipe, made him bleed, and the other got a few punches in. Keith easily beat the shit out of them.

He thought about what Shiro said about tricking a human into being his bride, and that was kind of what he was doing with Lance. He dropped the unconscious man and walked out of the pub parking lot. He was feeling kind of guilty. Lance deserved better than what he was.

Keith was a coward. He didn’t have the balls to just tell Lance who he was and why he was there. He had to try and seduce him. None of it worked. None of it ever worked. Maybe he should just give up and just talk to him? Tell him the truth. That he really was a demon and he was enamored by him.

***

“So I made my way here and that’s the end of my confession.” Said Keith quietly.

Lance just sat there and nodded. “I see…” About half way through Keith’s confession about being a demon of some sort he had taken out his phone and started to look through a list of possible mental health issues that Keith might be suffering. He was leaning towards some kind of schizophrenia. He was clearly delusional if he thought he was a demon.

“So… What now?” Asked Keith. “Am I meant to pray? Who am I meant to pray to? What am I meant to pray to? I’m a demon and I-” He coughed a few times and something splattered against the screen. It made Lance jump a little, but his blood ran cold when he saw what was seeping through. It was blood. Keith was coughing up blood.

Before Lance could stop himself, he was out of the booth and pulling open Keith’s side. “Keith! Are you o… kay…?”

Sitting in the booth was Keith, but it wasn’t Keith. They had horns, claws, scales, yellow eyes, wings, and a tail. Lance didn’t know if he said anything when this demon stared up at him with shock and surprise. He stood up, wobbling slightly and gripping the sides of the confessional booth.

“Lance…” They said quietly. “Lance I… I’m sorry…”

“...” Lance took a few steps back towards the altar. “You’re… you’re a demon… and you’re in a church…”

“A religious building is only as holy as the people that occupy it.” Said Keith. “Being a pastor, you’re already pretty holy and I… With the church and your house just give me a headache.” He stretched his wings a little and walked a little closer to Lance, though he looked like he was clutching his side. Blood was oozing out from between his fingers.

“Y-you’re bleeding.” Said Lance quietly. Keith was hurt, but he was a demon. A demon in a church and he… What was Lance meant to do? His back hit the altar and he blindly reached back and grabbed the crucifix back there.

“Yeah, I noticed…” Muttered Keith as he looked down at his wound. “I think one of them stabbed me with something. It’s pretty fucked.”

“... Yeah.” Lance grabbed the crucifix and held it close to his chest. Keith was a demon. A demon in his church. Why was he here? Was he trying to corrupt the town? Keith was fixated on him, so he must have been trying to corrupt him. Why was he trying to corrupt him?

Keith saw him holding the crucifix and immediately looked sad. “... Lance, I’m not here to hurt you. I told you this because I wanted us to become closer. I-” He took a step towards him, and Lance thrusted the crucifix forward. 

“Don’t come any closer!” Yelped Lance. He was trying to think of anything that would repel a demon. Maybe a bible verse? He couldn’t think of anything. “D-don’t… Please just… Get out of the church… Th-this is a sacred place… You shouldn’t be here. G-get out!”

Keith looked dejected. He moved one of his hands up to his mouth and tugged off one of his fingerless gloves. He showed Lance one of his hands. “Lance… Please… Just look. We have the same scar. I gave it to you when you were a kid. At some wedding you went to. You were complaining about wearing uncomfortable shoes and wanting to wear a dress. You said you’d be my bride… I… I’m sorry…”

Lance froze up. He vaguely remembered that time. But it was so distant it was just a vague dream in his mind. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. This was too much too quickly. A million questions were running through his head. If that thing that happened when he was a child was true, then did that mean he sold his soul to Keith when he was a child? Was he damned for all eternity for something he did as a child?

“G-get back!” He yelled at Keith. 

Keith’s wings drooped slightly and he smiled sadly at the pastor. “Lance… This was never going to work out, was it? I should have listened to everyone when they found out you were a pastor…” He chuckled a little. “This is why we aren’t meant to ask children to be our brides. You never know what they are going to turn into when they grow up… I’ve reached my breaking point… I guess I just have to give up.”

Lance didn’t know what to think anymore. He was really scared of Keith. Demons told lies. What was stopping Keith from lying to him? He was terrified of Keith’s ulterior motives. Was Keith going to try and kill him? He gulped and held the crucifix tighter.

Before he could say anything, Keith put his hand up to stop him talking. “It’s fine. Really. I um… I’ll stop bothering you… Goodbye Lance. Good luck with the religious thing.” Keith quickly walked out of the church leaving Lance stunned.

Lance had been living with a demon. A demon was living with him and trying to corrupt him. Keith… The same guy that was trying very hard to make him happy. The guy that was trying to change his life to be better for him. But it could all be a trick. He needed to talk to Keith but he was gone.

“Shit…” Lance, still holding the crucifix, ran out of the church. “KEITH!” But the demon was already gone. Lance was freaking out, unsure what just happened. He got into his car and quickly drove home. When he got there, Keith’s bike was gone. Inside Keith’s room was nothing. Completely cleaned out. Keith was gone. Lance didn’t know what to think. He was too in shock.

***

Keith drove a few miles out of town to the sounds of an ambulance driving to the pub. He stopped at a gas station with a pay phone. Keith felt shitty about the whole thing. He realized that he was getting nowhere by playing human. He needed to just lay it all out for him. Plus he was pretty sure that someone was going to come after him for almost killing three humans.

His stab in his chest was pretty much healed now. Keith got to the pay phone, shoved some money into it and decided to call someone he felt cared for him and would be empathetic to his situation.

After a few seconds someone picked up. _“Hello?”_

“Hi dad…”

_“Keith! I feel like it’s been years since we last spoke. How are you? Your mum told me you were breaking off from the group to pursue your bride. Apparently he’s a pastor?”_

Keith could feel his throat tightening. “It… It didn’t work out…”

_“Oh Keith…”_

“I told him I was a demon and he…” Keith was having a very hard time controlling his voice at this point. “He pretty much told me to go away… I’ve given up. I admit defeat. I told him everything. He rejected me… He had a crucifix. I think he was going to hit me with it…”

_“Keith… I am so sorry… What are you going to do?”_

“I… I’m going to come home.” He said quietly. “I can’t meet up with the group again. They’ll make fun of me for fucking this up so badly, and just be all condescending fucks about it.”

_“I understand… Can I ask why you told him you were a demon? Presumably before you fucked him?”_

Keith rubbed his eyes a little and sniffled. “... I just… Nothing I could do worked. I tried using all the succubus tricks but it didn’t work. I lived like a human for a while, but when I tried to flirt with him he would always shut it down. I just wanted him to like me… I just scared him… I scared the person that’s meant to be my bride. I’m a horrible person…”

_“Keith, you’re not a horrible person… Okay, come home right now. We’ll talk about this better and we’ll do something nice. Yeah? Do you like the sound of that?”_

“Yeah… Sounds good… Please don’t tell anyone I’m going home… Everyone’s going to make fun of me…”

_“It’s okay. Just come home Keith. I really miss you.”_

“I miss you too dad… I’ll see you in a few days.” He hung up the phone and got back onto his bike. He felt like shit. The look on Lance’s face when he saw what he really looked like… The second he saw his horrified, terrified face, Keith knew that they had no future together and he was just wasting everyone’s time. Leaving was the best option for everyone.


	14. Sadness

It had been three months since Keith had left and gone home. Keith’s home was a farmhouse out in the rural area of nowhere. It looked pretty dilapidated and like no one actually lived there, but the Mamora gang shuffled around ownership every fifty years or so to make sure that it always looked like someone else was owning it.

At the moment the house technically belonged to Thace, but the house was more or less Keith’s home. It had been the place that they had stayed in for most of Keith’s life growing up. He had his own room and everything, which was where he had stayed ever since he had gotten home.

His father had talked to him for a few hours when he first showed up. There was lots of crying on Keith’s part. His dad let him get all his tears out and let him hide away in his room. So that’s where Keith was. He just stayed there and stared at a knot in the wooden panel of his wall.

He felt sick. Everything that he had said to Lance was all for nothing. He looked at the scar on his finger and felt his stomach do flips. Human lives were so short. Lance had probably gotten over him already. It would take Keith a long time to heal from this.

He buried his face into his pillow and choked back another sob. He was an idiot. A fool. A stupid son of a bitch. Just because he was part succubus didn’t mean he could get with anyone he liked. Sure he could in a physical sense, but he wanted something more than that. He wanted someone who stood by him and made him feel like he could be better. That he could be more than what everyone said he was.

Lance made him feel good, and he was so open with himself and his life. Keith really, really wanted to be better for him. But he wasn’t better. The second Lance knew what he was, he hated him. He was scared of him. He held up his crucifix and told him to get out of the church. It honestly scared him.

He heard the door open and Keith glanced over at it to see his dad. A tall man with broad shoulders. His father was a trickster demon, specializing in scaring people lost in the woods, and making them even more lost. According to him, human screams sounded similar to laughter and it was nice to hear. Not that Keith could blame him. He thought that human screaming sounded nice too.

“You want to eat something today?” He asked.

“No.” Muttered Keith. “I’m not hungry.”

“You can’t just not eat.” The older man walked over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. He held a sandwich out to him. “Eat it. Just one bite, and I want you to swallow it.”

Keith sighed and reluctantly sat up and took a bite. “There. Happy now?”

“No.”

“You’re never happy.” Grumbled Keith.

“How can I be happy when my son is so heartbroken?”

“... Shouldn’t your hip still be broken old man?”

“My hip is fine now.”

“Don’t care. Just leave me alone.”

“Keith…”

“Just go away… I just want to be alone.”

His father sighed and let him be, but he left the sandwich. His old man didn’t understand. He didn’t get it. He and his mother were together. They were happy and content, but Keith was alone. He was nothing but a failure. He wanted to get thrown into the darkest pits of hell and rot.

After what seemed like a few seconds the door to his room opened again and Keith was going to growl at his dad, but was surprised to see Adam. He still looked mostly human. After living with them for so long and away from humanity, he had changed ever so subtly. His teeth had gotten sharper, his pupils could change from slits to the more off putting vizage of a goat, and those were just the changed people could see. 

He walked over to Keith and looked at him curiously. “Don’t freak out. I only know you’re here because your dad asked me to be here.”

“Good. Now you can go away.”

“You can’t stay like this forever.” Warned Adam. “Everyone is going to eventually find out about what happened and then they will-”

“Laugh at me?” Growled Keith. “Tell me I’m a stupid piece of shit for even trying? I fucked up Adam. I know I did. No one has to keep telling me that. I was a fucking piece of shit for thinking a fucking pastor would ever want a demon.” He could feel tears welling in his eyes again. “Some disgusting, filthy, hellspawn that dirtied his beloved church… He’ll try and shove a crucifix in my head the next time he sees me… Which he never will, because he hates me.”

Adam sighed a little and gave him a sympathetic look. “Do you know how Shiro and I met?”

Keith shook his head.

“Do you remember that period with the American civil war?”

“The what now?”

“Racist white people versus slightly less racist white people.”

“Oh yeah, that. What about it?”

“Well your father and Shiro are similar trickster demons… Shiro found me when I had escaped the plantation my former master had owned.” Said Adam. “I was actually going to throw myself off a cliff since I could hear the dogs and horses coming after me. Hell I was more cornered about the beating I was probably going to get from my master if I was caught…”

“And?”

“Well, Shiro just happened to be in the area and was trying to scare the shit out of me, or so he said…”

***

Adam stumbled and fell, scraping his palms and knees. There was a cliff around here somewhere. He just had to find it and jump. It would all be over if he could just find it. He heard the deep growl of a dog behind him. Adam froze as he looked over his shoulder and attempted to scramble to his feet, but ended up backing into a tree.

The dog;s fangs were bared and Adam was sure he was going to die. The dog looked like it was about to bark at him and alert the horse and their rider to where he was when they stopped. The dog’s tail went in between their legs and they looked terrified. They quickly ran away, and presumably back home.

Adam was confused but let out a sigh of relief. As he stood up he heard something slam into the trunk of the tree with a loud thwack. Adam jumped in shock and looked over to see a creature with a cow head staring at him. It groaned and made a rumbling like it was trying to moo, but it growled and gurgled like it had bubbling bile caught in its throat.

Adam was too scared to scream. He just ran for it. He didn’t get very far before he got his foot caught in a tree root and sprained his ankle. He cried out in pain and saw the monstrous cow headed person walking towards him.

He was scared, but Adam was also frustrated, scared and angry. “Just do it!” He snapped at the cow man, making them pause. “Just fucking kill me!”

The cow man just looked amused and crouched down to Adam’s eye level. “You are interesting.” They said. “If you wanted to die, then why not let the dogs eat you?”

“I’d rather die by my own hand than by the hand of my master.” Spat Adam with venom.

The cow man was very amused by that statement. “So you want to kill yourself? If I were to kill you, you wouldn’t be able to do it. If there is one thing I know about humans it’s that you are very hard to kill. You’re very resilient. My kind finds you very amusing. We can throw a lot of shit at you before you die.”

“And you’d slow my death down?”

“If you want death I can give it to you. But first, I want you healthy, you fucked up your ankle.”

“Why does that matter?”

“I drive my prey insane.” Said the cow man. He crawled over Adam and smirked at him. “I’ll drive you insane and make you unable to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s in your mind. I’ll fuck with your head so much you won’t even realize you’ve killed yourself until the lest seconds of death where you realize the noose around your neck is made from your own guts.”

Adam glared at him and punched him right in the snout. “Step the fuck back. Your breath stinks. Fucking demon.”

The demon looked shocked for a moment before they chuckled and sat back. After a few awkward seconds the cow head demon threw their head back and laughed as their form shifted and changed into a more human form, though their eyes were still bright yellow.

“You know what? I like you. My name is Shiro. Guess you already figured I was a demon.”

“And I guess you already know that I really don’t give a fuck.”

“Sassy. I like it.” Shiro got up and quickly slung Adam over his shoulder.

“Hey! Put me down!”

“No way. I promised I’d kill you once your ankle is better. I’ll take you to where I’m living for now and you’ll be off to kill yourself by the end of the week.”

“You fucking suck.”

“And you’re a charmer.”

***

“And what’s the point of that story?” Asked Keith.

“Circumstances change your view of demons.” Said Adam. “I saw Shiro as more of a good thing than a bad thing. He was willing to grant me my wish of dying by my own hands and actually made sure I was ready and willing to run for my life… He was my escape… And angel.”

“Hisssss…”

“Oh shut up. You know what I mean.” Said Adam. “Look, to a Pastor you’re nothing but a monster. Someone he should fear. You aren’t a release or an escape from anything. You’re a symbol of hatred to him.”

“So it was never going to work out?” Asked Keith. “Is that what you’re saying?”

Adam shrugged. “In a way, yes. But if anything, you didn’t really make yourself anything that your potential bride wanted, did you? He just thought you were a broken person that he needed to fix. You’re a sex demon, yet you let him seduce you, not the other way around. Shiro managed to seduce me and changed my mind so I no longer wanted to be his victim but wanted to be his bride.”

“... Well now I just feel even more stupid!” Snapped Keith. He crawled under the bedsheets, and threw his sandwich at him. “Fuck off. Leave me alone.”

Adam rolled his eyes but left the room. He easily found Keith’s father walking around the kitchen. The man gave him a concerned look. “Is he still upset?”

“Yes. He threw his food at me.”

“Figured…” He sighed and poured Adam a shot of bourbon. “I don’t know what to do. The kid just wants to wallow in his own misery. He doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink… and at this point I am pretty sure his clothes are starting to weld to his body…”

“Yeah, the kid needs a shower…” Adam sighed and downed his shot. It burned a little on the way down. “Ah, fuck it. Where did this pastor come from? What town?”

“Why?”

Adam took the bourbon from the older man and quickly gulped down a few mouthfuls. “Well… Someone needs to talk to the human. Might as well be a kind of demi demon thing that’s the bride to another demon.”

“While I agree, do you think that’s a good idea?”

“What’s the pastor gonna do? Throw a crucifix at me?”

“Perhaps?”

Adam shrugged and headed out. “Whatever. I’m going to find this shitty priest that broke Keith’s heart. Been a while since I’ve broken a bunch of religious shit. By the way I’m taking the crowbar. Might need to break some kneecaps.”

“Have fun.”


	15. Farmhouse

Keith had been gone for a while and Lance had been having some trouble coping. He had come to terms with the fact that Keith was indeed a demon, and Lance had invited him into his home and church. He reflected on a lot of Keith’s behaviour as he drained his third pint of beer. He wasn’t even a big beer drinker.

He’d slowly lost his overly cheerful demeanor. His sermons where he preached forgiveness and compassion for all were still there, it was hollow. He had gotten some concerned looks from his congregation and the small group of older women that fawned over him did ask if he was okay. Lance just brushed them off and said there was some personal stuff in his life. Everyone was still worried about him.

Lance didn’t really care that much. Not anymore. He really missed the demon, but he was fighting himself internally. On one hand Lance really cared about Keith and his well being. On the other hand Keith was a demon that was there to corrupt humans with sin. Then on another hand maybe Keith was a good demon? Was that even possible? Could demons be good? He had no idea.

Lance had read many books about mythology. Things about angels and demons. Even stuff about fairy folk. He didn’t really know what to do or say anymore. Things were so much easier when everything was just black and white when it came to angels and demons. Good and evil. Lance shouldn’t be questioning things like this. He liked Keith as a person, but he wasn’t a person. 

He was a demon. A demon that was really, really sweet and able to see that there was nothing between them. Lance looked down at the scar on his finger. Over the past few days he had noticed it starting to fade. He didn’t know what that meant. Did it mean that whatever connection he had to Keith was gone? Maybe? He didn’t know. This was so confusing. 

He didn’t understand what he was meant to do anymore. Lance wanted to go after him, but he didn’t know where Keith went. He probably never would. Keith was gone forever. He felt so hypocritical and he didn’t even know why. Probably had something to do with kicking Keith out because he was a demon, but still wanting him to stay.

With a heavy sigh, Lance left the bar and made his way back to the church. He had so many questions that he was never going to get closure for anymore. Keith was gone. Maybe he was back in hell? He didn’t know. Maybe the only way he could see Keith again was if he committed a huge sin? He couldn’t do that.

As he wallowed in his own self pity he hardly noticed the man walking up behind him. “Pastor Lance?” They called.

Lance looked over at him. The man was tall and tanned with chestnut brown hair. He adjusted his glasses a little, making the glare temporarily blinded Lance slightly. “Y-yeah. I’m Lance… I’m sorry, who are you?”

“I’m Adam. I wanted to talk to you about something.” They said.

“Oh? Is it a matter of faith? Do you need some spiritual guidance?” He was trying to remember if he knew an Adam in the town. Alcohol was clouding his mind.

Adam chuckled a little. “Well I guess depending on how you look at it, it could be considered a matter of faith.” They smiled at Lance, showing off their unnatural fangs and completely yellow goat eyes. 

It made Lance jump in shock, but didn’t know if this was because he had drank just a little too much. “What are you?”

“My name is Adam. I am the bride of Takashi Shirogane, aka Shiro. Keith is kind of like my brother in law.” They said it all in such a cheerful tone, it made Lance’s blood run cold. “Now, let’s go somewhere a little more quiet to discuss these spiritual matters.”

***

Adam was not surprised to see that Lance quickly booked it to the church, well, as fast as a tipsy human could. Seeing a demon seemed to sober him up real quick. Adam tried to remember the last time alcohol had made him drunk? It was such a long, long time. It would still burn his throat, but he might as well have just been drinking spicy water at that point. Had pretty much the same effect on him anyway.

They got to the gates of the church and Lance paused. “C-can you even walk on holy ground?”

Adam rolled his eyes and walked past him and into the church. “Please, I’m not fully demon yet. I don’t have any real adverse effects when coming into contact with religious objects. Not even the mild headaches and migraine that other demons do.”

Lance kind of just numbly followed along until they got to his office. Lance sat down in his chair, he looked all clammy and kind of shaken. “I’m sure you have many questions.” Said Adam as he sat down in his own chair. “Go ahead. We have time.”

The poor Pastor nodded and nervously tapped his fingers against the desk top. “I… You’re not a full demon?”

“No, I’m not.” Said Adam calmly. “I am… The transition from human to demon is very, very slow. Slow for humans, relatively average for a demon.”

“But, how?”

“When a human becomes the bride of a demon the demon extends their lover’s life.” Said Adam. “It’s done through a blood ritual where you have to consume the flesh of your demon partner… Takashi was a little shit about the whole thing the first few times…” Adam did admit he might have gone a little overboard, chasing the cow faced demon around with an actual meat cleaver… The first three times they needed to do the ritual. “Anyway, yeah. I’ve been with Takashi for a long, long time. I’m not a full demon but I have some demonic powers and features now.” 

“I-I see…” Lance still looked very shocked. “So… Are they like… Is everyone in that biker gang a-”

“Yes. All demons.”

“All the same demons?”

“Oh goodness no. They are a large mix of different demons. Shiro is a type of tricker demon that scares people to death or into madness. Keith is half succubus on his mother’s side while his father is a trickster demon, but looks more like a goat headed creature rather than a cow head.”

“Right…” Realization seemed to wash over his face. “Oh god… That’s why he wanted to fuck me? So much? A succubus eats um… that stuff, right?”

Adam found this rather amusing “Well they do, kind of? But it’s more like keeping them energized? It’s hard to tell. I’m not a sex demon. I just know that since Keith isn’t a full succubus he can’t kill someone just by fucking them. That is unless he decides to break their neck.”

“Right…” Lance still looked confused and unsure of himself. “So… Are you here to kill me?” He asked. “Send my soul to hell?”

That made Adam chuckle. He kept forgetting humans cared about things like souls. “No. I came here because Keith is a mess. He’s shut himself in his room and to be honest? His father is probably a week away from getting the pressure hose out to blast him off the bed he’s decided to fuse himself to.”

Lance started to look extremely guilty. “He’s really taking this badly? I… I knew he liked me but I… I need answers. He left before I could get any...”

“I know.” Said Adam. “So I am going to offer you the chance to come with me to see him again.”

“... You’re going to take me to hell?”

Humans really were strange things. Adam still wondered how he used to be one of them. “No. I’m not taking you to hell or anything as foolish as that. But then again I am asking you to go to rural Texas so… Well I could have asked you to go to the Appalachian mountains, but if I’m honest the Appalachian people are pretty relaxed and down to earth… Anyway, I’m not going to drag you to hell to see Keith.”

“Well that’s g-”

“But I will break your kneecaps.”

“... H-how long will this little trip be?”

“Best give it a month.”

“Right…” Lance looked down at the table as he thought about this. “Adam… I… I don’t know… I… There’s so many things that I… How could you willingly become a demon? How could anyone want that?”

Adam chuckled a little and grinned. “Well, it all depends on the situation. For me, Takashi promised that he would drive me so insane I would kill myself, but only when I was pysically and mentaly ready to. We spent a week together as he helped me recover and he healed me.”

“... How could you be in such a state where you would want to kill yourself?”

“Lance, I was born on a cotton farm many years before the Civil war.” Informed Adam. “My only escape from that place was death.”

Lance looked shocked. “Oh… Well um… You look really good for your age…”

“So I have been told.” He stood up and smiled at him. “You have until I bring my car around to be ready to go. If not I am going to break your kneecaps and stick you in the boot of my car.”

“O-okay!” Squeaked out Lance. It was good to know that he didn’t need to get too physically violent with Lance. He was smart enough to keep his mouth and just do what he said.

Adam went to get his car and pulled around. The Pastor was standing out by the gate and still seemed very nervous, but he got in the car anyway. Adam respected that. Clearly Lance was freaking out, but he wanted to see Keith. It was cute.

“Have all your affairs in order?” Asked Adam.

“I… That really sounds like you’re going to kill me or something…”

Adam chuckled. “Well if anyone is going to kill you, it would be Keith. He’s the one whose heart you crushed.”

“I… I know…” Lance looked very nervous and like he was going to jump out of the car. Adam was kind of disappointed that he wasn’t. Adam really wanted to use his crowbar.

***

Lance was pretty sure that he was going to die and he clearly drank way too much to allow himself to be taken away by a demon to Texas of all places. He was pretty sure he was going to get killed the second he got out of the car. It wasn’t like it was a short trip either. He and Adam stopped several times to fuel up the car, to get food, and to sleep.

At any point, Lance could have called a taxi if he really wanted to, but after months of wanting to get some damn answers, Lance stayed. Adam didn’t talk that much to him during those days, unless it was to offer Lance some food or to ask him if they needed to take a bathroom break.

A few days later they were driving along some highway when Adam suddenly pulled off onto a dirt road, making Lance jump a little in surprise. They drove down to some farmhouse that gave off a very strong House of 1000 corpses vibes. It kind of freaked him out a little. He spotted Keith’s bike in an open barn close to the house.

Adam pulled up and got out. “Okay Jesus man. We are here. Get out.”

Lance got out and stretched. Now that he was here, he was terrified. He felt like Dante standing at the gates of hell. His palms were sweaty, and kind of shaking. The front door opened and a well built man walked out of the house carrying a beer can. He looked between Adam and Lance before gesturing to Lance.

“This the guy?” He asked in a gruff voice.

“It’s him.” Said Adam. “I didn’t even have to break his knees to get him here.”

“Keith probably wouldn’t be very happy about his potential bride getting broken knee caps.”

Adam shrugged. “That’s just how I roll. Did Takashi call while I was gone?”

“Yeah. Said he shipped a nice bottle of wine to the town for you. Should be at the P.O box in town in about a week.”

“Nice.” He gestured for Lance to follow him. “Come on. We won’t bite. Neither of us like the taste of humans that much anyway.”

Lance was nervous, but he followed them inside. He half expected the place to smell like sulfur and rotting meat. He thought it would look like a witches lair, but no. The place actually looked well looked after and normal? The only off putting thing was the skull hanging over the fireplace. It looked like two deformed skills fused together. It had at least eleven eye holes with four horns and two jaws. It was unsettling.

The older man sat on a couch and gestured for Lance to do the same. Still fearful, Lance did as he was told. The man then gestured for Adam to go to the kitchen. “Pour the kid a drink. We need to have a talk before I let him see my son.”

“Oh! So you’re Keith’s father?” Asked Lance. “How are you? Is your hip okay?”

The man chuckled. “I’m good. It healed up nicely. But now, I need to ask you… What are your intentions with my son?”

“I um… I want answers…” Said Lance. “He kind of just vanished before I could ask him anything… I just… I wanted him to explain what is going on… Mr?”

“Oh right, you can call me Tex. Most do. Not my real name, but you know.” He said. “I already know you’re Lance. A Pastor. The person my son shouldn’t have made a pact with when you were like what? Five? Six? We try not to make deals with kids since you’re kind of… stupid.”

“Right… That’s fair I guess...” Muttered Lance. 

“Yeah, well once you get your answers what are you going to do?”

“I think that depends on the answers I get.” Said Lance quietly. “I… I’m actually kind of expecting Keith to kill me and you two to hide my body somewhere on the property. No one knows that I am here so…”

Tex chuckled a little at that. “Really? Interesting. I don’t think any of us are gonna try and kill you. At least not right now. There’s been a lot of miscommunication going on here and it needs to be cleared up.”

“Yeah…”

Adam walked over and handed Lance a gin and tonic. “Here. Go and give this to Keith. His room is the one with the cartoon looking red K painted on it.”

“O-okay…” Lance reluctantly took the drink and headed upstairs when directed that way and quickly found Keith’s room. He very slowly opened the door and easily found Keith laying on his bed. The man was covered with some kind of leathery blanket. At least, it looked like a blanket until Lance saw it twitch. It was a wing.

He took a cautious step into the room and the floorboard creaked under his feet. “Go away…” Grumbled Keith.

“Keith…”

Just saying his name was enough to make Keith sit up. He looked awful, like he had been crying for a while. His face went red with embarrassment. “Lance… What are you doing here?”

“I… I came for answers…” Said Lance. “And apparently to give you a gin and tonic?”

“How did you even get here?”

“Adam came to get me.”

Keith looked shocked for a moment before he got angry. “That nosey fucker… I am going to beat his ass… He didn’t get you with the crowbar, did he?”

“No?”

“Good…”

Lance walked over to him and offered him the drink. “Here… I was told to give this to you… Please drink?”

“...” Keith reluctantly took the drink and quickly downed it. “Thanks… You didn’t have to come all the way out here…”

“You didn’t really give me much choice. You just ran away.”

“... I didn’t want you to hate me.” Said Keith sadly. He pulled his wings around himself to shield himself from him. “I mean, I know you hate me because you’re a pastor and you kind of just hate me by default… but I tried… I really tried but…”

“Shush, it’s okay.” Lance awkwardly sat next to him. He wasn’t sure if he should try and touch him or not, but he was still sitting on the bed next to him. The closest he had ever been to Keith in far too long. “We need to talk about this… Please?”

Keith looked down at his empty cup and sighed. He seemed to regret not nursing his gin and tonic. “Yeah… Okay… I want more gin first though…”


	16. Communication

Lance and Keith talked for hours. Well, it was mostly Keith talking. Lance would ask an occasional question, but that was about it. Keith was more than accommodating and went on about anything that Lance asked. He rambled on about the dichotomy of good and evil, how demons function, and most importantly, the bride thing.

“Why did you choose me?” Asked Lance. “Out of all people… Why me?”

“Because you were there.” Said Keith. “And I kind of thought you were cute… Like, not in a creepy way, but in a cute puppy kind of way… I was curious about how you would turn out and I wanted to see you again… You didn’t ask for this. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay I… So you’ve been waiting for me to become an adult?”

“Eh, not really. Most demons kind of see humans as childish creatures to begin with… and back in the day 21 was pretty much middle age. Also, I um… I might not have realized that the whole bride thing would stick since you were a kid…”

“Well it did.”

“Yeah…” Keith sighed and brushed some hair out of his face. “I… Look, I really tried to make you like me enough to fall in love with me and leave your religion and forsake your vows to the church… But nothing worked. I used all the succubus tricks but nothing happened.”

“... What succubus tricks?”

“Yeah… I entered your dreams to try and plant the seeds of lust in you.” Said Keith quietly. “Entering your dream gave me a headache.”

Lance’s face went bright red. He remembered the most intense dream he had about Keith. He could vividly remember the demon holding him in his arms. He also remembered how submissive he felt. It was embarrassing. 

Keith then flicked his tail and showed Lance the little stinger sticking out of the tip. “Succubus venom is like a super aphrodisiac. That night at the drive ins when I got into your car… I stung you but you flat out rejected me. I stung you good too. Right in the thigh.”

Lance thought back to that night and remembered the weird barb thing he pulled out of his pants. It was Keith’s stinger. Keith had tried to sting him!

“And then I tried using pheromones on you, but you just went back to gardening!” Whined Keith. “I just… How did you do that? Like, why? You have some divine protection from demons!”

Lance didn’t bother correcting Keith about how at least two of those incidents were actually due to bad luck on his part. “... You… You tried to force me into having sex with you?”

“Huh? Not really?” Now Keith looked confused. “I just… It’s just what a succubus does? No different from a spider biting a fly. Sex is what I need to survive. Not as much as a full succubus but I…” He sighed. “I still need to do it every once in a while. I won’t die like a full succubus but I can get pretty sick…”

“Is that why you were trying to have sex with me?”

“No. Sex between a demon and their bride kind of seals the pact where you and I become one.” Said Keith. “Kind of like… The human equivalent of marriage? But stronger? It’s a pretty big deal… If you don’t want to be my bride then it’s okay… I get it.”

Lance frowned a little and reached out to touch Keith’s hand. He hesitated a little, but ultimately held Keith’s hand. The demon was surprised for a second, but he happily held his hand back. He was even smiling a little.

“Keith I… Are you really going to give up on me? Why now? What made you change your mind?”

“Didn’t I explain it before?” Asked Keith. “I was beating the shit out of those assholes that insulted you and I… I just realized that I’m always going to be a demon and I’ll… One day I might hurt someone you care about and I don’t want to do that… A-anyway, how have you been?”

Lance shrugged. “Thought about a lot of stuff…”

“Yeah?”

“I… I’ve been thinking a lot about you.” And he had. Every waking moment that went by were filled with thoughts of Keith. He didn’t know if he was being influenced by some demonic force into thinking about him. He was infatuated with Keith. Keith made him smile, laugh, and he just wanted to keep being around him. He just couldn’t stay away from the demon now that he was gone.

“Good things I hope.” Said Keith quietly, though he didn’t seem very sure of himself. Maybe he was afraid of the answer?

Lance moved a little closer to him. “Yeah… Can you give me some more time? Like, come back with me. Give me some more time to fall in love with you, all of you…”

Keith looked at him with surprise. “You want to fall in love with me?” He sounded hopeful.

The pastor’s face went bright red and quickly looked away. “I… I didn’t… That’s not what I said…”

“But it was implied.”

“Maybe…”

Keith smiled a little and gently caressed Lance’s cheek. “Can I kiss you?”

“... Yes.”

***

Tex hummed happily as he occasionally looked over at the stairs. He was happy that Lance had showed up and was talking to Keith. He needed this. The sooner Keith got out of his depressive state the better. He hated seeing his son so miserable all the time.

He looked over at Adam. The demon was still looking at his crowbar and actually picking what looked like dried scalp out of it. He looked like he was happy. Tex had no idea why Shiro chose such a strange human for his bride to begin with. He was pretty quick to shed his own humanity and embrace the more violent tendencies of the demon lifestyle.

Not that it wasn’t unwelcome, it was just unexpected. Adam seemed to enjoy being a sadist. Sucked to be Shiro. Maybe he was secretly a masochist? He wouldn’t be surprised. Most demons generally fell into the category of masochist or sadist.

“Are you upset you didn’t get to bludgeon someone with your crowbar?”

“Yes… I was hoping that Lance would resist more and try to run away.” The man continued to pout. He looked very unhappy. “Stupid human… Why couldn’t he be terrified? Stupid human…”

Tex shrugged and drank a mouthful of whiskey. He should ask Krolia to send him back some nicer stuff. “Well there’s always next time… Also hitch hikers.”

“Very true… But hitch hikers are boring…”

“Well what are you going to do?” Asked Tex. “Start leaving glass out on the road and cause car crashes?”

Adam contemplated this idea for a moment before he shook his head. “Nah, don’t want to kill a kid by accident.”

“You draw the line at kid killing?”

“Only if the kid isn’t a little shit.” Said Adam. “I will kill an entitled little fuck. I’ve done it before.”

Tex rolled his eyes. Adam really relished in his revenge against his previous Master and the entire family. As far as the white humans were concerned, it was rebels from the North or slaves revolting before they headed up North to escape the South’s tyranny. He seemed to really enjoy ripping that family apart, piece by bloody piece.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, which made both demons look up. Something was happening between those two. Something loud, maybe kind of violent? Neither could feel anything like religious or holy energy, so whatever was happening Lance wasn’t fighting back.

“You think they are fighting?” Asked Adam.

“Maybe? The point is they are talking about it.” Tex smiled a little as he remembered his time getting to know Krolia. The Succubus almost killed him a few dozen times and that was just because he wanted to talk to her.

“... I kind of want to see the fight.”

“Let them be. You remember what it feels like to be young and in love, don’t you?” Asked Tex. “You find the one you’re made for, can’t keep your hands off of each other… Pushing, pulling, claws sinking into soft flesh…”

Adam nodded in agreement. “I remember my first time with Takashi… Good thing I have a thing for raw beef apparently.” He chuckled and sighed. “I miss Taka…”

“He’ll be back soon.” Said Tex. “They are on their way back now. Maybe four months? We’ll have a party.”

The sound of a door swinging open and slamming hard against the wall made the men jump in surprise. They quickly looked over to the stairs and quickly saw Keith and Lance coming down them. Much to their surprise, Keith was back to looking human and was grabbing his vest and trying to put his shoes on. He tossed a spare helmet at Lance, which the pastor fumbled, but caught it.

“And where are you boys heading off to?” Asked Adam as he looked over Lance. He seemed a little disappointed that Lance was cut and bruise free.

Keith quickly looked between Lance and the demons. “... Home.” He took Lance by the hand and quickly ran out the door with him, pretty much dragging him behind him. Minutes later they heard the rev of an engine, and looking out the window they saw Keith and Lance speeding down the driveway.

Adam sighed and sunk deeper into the couch. “Fuck… I didn’t even get to rough the pastor up a little…”

Tex laughed. “Calm down. There’s still plenty of people you can crack skulls open with your crowbar later.”

“I guess…” He sighed and finally put his crowbar down. “Look, are you okay with this?”

Tex nodded. “Of course. The second I saw Lance I knew he would make Keith happy… While I was upset that Keith made a damn child his bride I’m glad it turned out this way… I mean, if Keith had been trying to take the kid’s soul then that would have been completely different. Souls are more fun.”

“Very true.” Adam sighed loudly. “I miss Taka…”

“I know. You won’t shut the fuck up about it.” Tex went to take another mouthful of whisky. Seconds later he got a crowbar right in the forehead.


	17. Ring scars

It took a few days for the two of them to get back to Lance’s home. When they did, things were a little awkward. Not that it could have been less awkward. They still needed to talk. Find some understanding between the two of them. Which was becoming increasingly difficult. Just for the simple fact that it was awkward.

They got back to Lance’s home. Keith nodded that it didn’t look any different from when he was there last. Though, when he did walk into the room, Lance did take down a few crucifixes that were hung up in the lounge room and stowed them away in a drawer.

“Do you need me to take them all down?”

“No, you can keep them up.” Said Keith. “A religious object only has as much power as a person gives it. These objects are powered by human faith. The stronger the faith the stronger and more powerful the object. You believe that these things will protect you from demons so they will.”

“Oh… Sorry… I um…” Lance continued to put them away. He continued to put things away until he felt that he had put enough stuff away. Keith noted that he didn’t put away the statue of Mary or baby Jesus.

Keith walked up to him and held his hand. “You don’t need to put it all away…”

Lance looked over at him and smiled at him slightly. “Yeah… Can you drop your human disguise? I want to see you. The real you.”

Hearing that made Keith’s heart flutter a little in his chest. He let his disguise fall away and let Lance see what he fully looked like in a better light. He did feel a little worried that Lance might not like him at all. Humans did tend to scream and run from him when they saw his real form.

Lance smiled at him, and gently touched his face, running his thumb over the rough scales on his cheekbones. He leaned forward and kissed him. “You look good.”

“Not scary?”

“Well, a little spooky, but not something I would have nightmares about.” He paused for a moment. “Do demons want to be scary?”

“Well… It depends.” Said Keith. “Mostly on what the demon wants. I’m a mix of a trickster demon and a succubus, so I look like this. Still human, but still very demonic.”

“I think it looks good… Can I kiss you again?”

Keith smiled and cupped the Pastor’s face, gently kissing him. Lance’s lips were a little chapped, but soft. It felt so perfect and right. Lance was perfect. His bride. Well, not really his bride yet, but willing to become his bride. He could kiss Lance all day.

But Lance pulled away. “Keith…”

“Too much?”

“No I… We need to talk… I like my job. I really do. I don’t want to give up being a Pastor… I’m pretty sure that this relationship is going to really condemn me to hell…” He muttered.

“Maybe. I don’t really know what happens when humans die…” Said Keith. “But I’ll do what I can to prevent that… And if you still want to be a Pastor then I won’t say anything against it.”

“It just feels so hypocritical now…”

“You preach about love, right?” Asked Keith. “You talk about love and your god’s forgiveness? It’s not like you’re some hateful preacher that preys on the weak and vulnerable. You’re a good man.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah.” He kissed Lance’s forehead. “But I have a bit of a confession… I want to help you around the church. Like, preferably doing stuff outside. Being inside for too long will give me a headache...”

Lance nodded a little as he thought about this. “Maybe you could help me garden? I can show you how to do that… And maybe you can start working at the op shop again? It might be a little hard since you kind of vanished…”

“I think I had a valid reason to leave.”

“I’m not going to tell a little old lady that you turned into a demon and flew away like a scared child.”

“I wasn’t scared…” Muttered Keith. “Just concerned that you would beat me with a crucifix…”

Lance looked like he was about to rebuff him, but he stopped himself. “Anyway, let’s have something to eat. It’s kind of dinner time anyway. You okay with pasta and tinned sauce?”

“Sure… Can I help?”

Lance smiled and led Keith into the kitchen. Making dinner together was a nice experience and Keith really enjoyed physically being himself while Lance was with him. It was very domestic and calming. For the first time in a long time, Keith felt at peace.

They ate dinner together, sharing coy glances at one another. It made Keith’s heart flutter in his chest. After which the two of them went to bed. Though Keith initially went to his old room until Lance gently pulled him into his own. Keith was pleasantly surprised and watched as Lance went about removing the religious paraphernalia. 

Keith sat on his bed and watched him move around the room. He knew his gaze was probably predatory, but sharing a bed with a human, his human, the one he has chosen to be his bride. His succubus instincts were telling him to bring Lance into the bed and immediately bed him and claim him. But touching him and kissing would do for now.

“Do you have a headache?” Asked Lance.

“Hmm?”

“I took all the things out of the room. Religious stuff gives you a headache, right?”

“I feel fine. Thank you.” Said Keith. He reached out for Lance, beaconing him towards him. “Come to me.”

Lance smiled at him and went to him. He embraced Keith and in turn, Keith embraced him. He shielded him with his wings. Within the safety of his wing cocoon Keith gently kissed along Lance’s jawline and down his neck. He lightly nipped along his jawline to make Lance moan.

That spurred Keith on more as he ran his hands over Lance’s body. He took some time to quickly take his gloves off so he could have as much skin contact with Lance’s body as possible.

“Keith…” Moaned Lance in a breathy voice. “Not below my waist… Not yet…”

“Still gotta wait for you?” Purred the demon.

“Yeah… Demons move really fast huh?”

“Hmm, yeah.” Keith continued to kiss him and smile at him. “I’ll wait for you. For as long as it takes I will wait for you. I’ve waited for you for this long, I can wait a thousand life times for you.”

“You mean it?”

“I do.” He held Lance’s hand and kissed the faded scar on Lance’s ring finger. A look of shame came across his face. “It’s okay.” Said Keith. “Since I thought you rejected me the mark started to fade. It would never fully vanish, but my claim on you would fade and other demons would have some claim to you… But now, the stronger out bond gets the more prominent it will become.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” He kissed Lance again and smiled at him. “If you decide that I’m not worth it anymore the scar will continue to fade. It’s okay though, I love you. I always will love you. My bride or not I will always be there for you.”

“So I don’t have to choose between you and my god?”

“I’d never ask you to choose between either. God can have your soul, but I want your body.” Whispered Keith as he pulled Lance in for another kiss. Lance hummed a little and ran his fingers through Keith’s hair, gently brushing over his horns before running them down his chest and arms. Hands touching and their fingers intertwined. The scars on both their ring fingers started to darken and become more prominent. Almost like tattoos on their fingers.

***

Several months later, the Mamora gang came through the small town. None of them were very surprised to see nothing had changed. Most of the gang headed to the pub to get liquored up while Shiro, Krolia, and Kolivan headed to the church to see if they could find Lance and ask about Keith.

They had a small betting pool going on in the gang about what Keith’s fate was. Most thought Keith would still be following Lance around like a hellhound puppy. Some thought Keith would have given up and headed home with his tail between his legs in shame.

They pulled up in the church parking lot and had a little look around. The place seemed to be a little strange. Still as holy as ever, but not as holy as it was before. Perhaps Lance’s faith had wavered slightly with Keith’s presence? Shiro was very proud of that.

Kolivan sighed a little and scratched the back of his head. “Well… At least he did something while we were gone.”

“Considering he hasn’t done this before I think he has done very well.” Said Krolia. “The church doesn’t look too bad either. The garden is very nice.”

Shiro nodded in agreement. “Lance has done a pretty good job, huh?”

They saw some movement over by the far corner of the church. The trio approached and found someone wearing a big straw hat and gardening clothes. They were humming to themselves as they worked to trim the branches from a tree.

“Lance?” Called Shiro.

The person stopped trimming and looked over at them. Much to their surprise it was Keith. He seemed just as surprised to see them there. “Oh, hey guys. On your way back home?”

“Yes…” Said Krolia. “Keith, what happened? Why are you working at the church? For the Pastor? Kind of the opposite of what you were meant to do? … Did he use some crazy Catholic magic?”

Keith gave them a confused look. “No? I kind of like gardening?”

The other demons were shocked to hear him say that. Something was clearly wrong here. Keith had never gardened before. He was more likely to kill a plant rather than raise it and help it flourish. 

The younger demon frowned at them and went back to trimming. “Well if you’re just here to make fun of my gardening skills you can fuck off.”

“We aren’t here to do that.” Said Shiro. “But um… How are you going? Are you… Do you want to come back with us or stay here?”

“I’m staying here of course.” Said Keith like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Lance and I… Everything is going really well right now. Working at the church is really nice. I mostly do gardening and outdoor stuff, but it’s work that I enjoy.”

Krolia looked like she was going to cry. “My poor baby… We shouldn’t have left you here alone…”

Suddenly the backdoor to the church opened up and Lance happily walked out. “Oh hey! You should have called ahead to let us know you were passing through. I would have brought a table out here.”

Something was off about the Pastor. Sure he was still cheerful and happy, but there was this slightly strange energy he was giving off. It was a little unnerving, but it intrigued the demons. It seemed a little familiar to them.

Sensing their confusion, Lance walked over to Keith and kissed him on the cheek. “We’re a thing now.”

That surprised them all. “Oh… That’s nice.” Said Krolia. “So… You won’t be coming back with us, Keith?”

Keith shook his head. “No. I’m going to stay here a bit longer with Lance. Tell dad I said hi when you next see him.”

“We will.” Said Kolivan.

“Want to come to the pub with us?” Asked Shiro. “It’ll be good to catch up.”

Keith glanced over at Lance. “I’ll be back soon.” 

“You take your time. It’s been a while since you’ve seen them.” Lance quickly kissed him again and took his hat and gloves. “Have fun. I’ll see you later tonight, okay?”

“Hmm, okay.” Keith kissed him back and headed off with the other demons.

As they did, Shiro glanced back at Lance. He was running his hand through his hair, pushing it back just enough for Shiro to notice a slight bump just starting to form under his skin. It might not have been noticeable for humans but it looked like Lance might be starting to grow horns. It seemed as though, despite the domestic setting, Keith had found his bride.


End file.
